Écervelée
by Yilena
Summary: Dating Adrien Agreste in secret meant that Marinette had another identity along with being Ladybug. But as they come close to figuring out who Papillon is, Marinette slowly neglects some parts of her life to sit on specific rooftops, looking for butterflies. AU.


**AN:** As always, thank you for requesting this, _cheklmn_. If you try to get me to write another sequel, I will probably cry for a few weeks. Just a warning. This is a sequel to _À Partir De_ so you might want to read that first. Okay, so... I don't actually watch the show any more? I've watched one episode of season two (per _cheklmn_ 's request for this series), which means there's gonna be a lot that won't match up to the actual canon universe. For this one, let's pretend the miraculous book doesn't exist and the peacock miraculous isn't in the safe—just go along with the flow of this AU because I am _suffering_.

 _Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir © Thomas Astruc _

With dating Adrien as another identity, it meant that he fumbled and had to make up a few things about her when he was put on the spot. To him—to _protect_ him—she was Ui, a girl he was crushing on after she'd confessed her feelings via asking a friend to put her card into his locker. The most their friends knew was that they'd started talking before going on a date to the amusement park together, and they'd started dating officially after that.

It seemed so juvenile to call him her boyfriend, but the grin Adrien had whenever someone asked him about his girlfriend made her feel warm.

As their class was never split up for different classes, meaning all of them were always together throughout the day, it didn't take long for information to spread. And whenever someone brought up the topic of his girlfriend to him, Adrien just smiled and didn't indulge them with anything more.

Nino did bring it up again some weeks later, when he pointed out that they knew barely anything about Ui—it was clear in his eyes, along with the rest of their class-mates, that Ui being a complete stranger was a foreign concept to them. Their class stuck with each other for the most part, not merging with the other year groups at lunch or talking with friends of different ages, and it was something that had stuck from when they were little.

It was silly how Adrien dating someone that no one else knew caused such confusion, especially when he confirmed that he hadn't met her through work.

"Ui's not a model," he said with a laugh when someone asked. "So, no, I didn't meet her through a shoot or something. I'm not lying about the whole confession letter thing."

She was a bit surprised there was some disappointment at that.

At lunch one day, when Adrien was busy typing out a message that Marinette wouldn't see until after school, Nino brought up the date again.

"It was great," Adrien readily replied with an infectious grin, the corner of his eyes crinkling. "She did almost throw up on me at one point, though. That might've ruined the mood."

Nino just snorted. "As glad as I am that you had a good time, I almost got killed for covering for you. You're lucky you have sympathy points from how sad you looked when you couldn't stay for dinner last night."

Adrien leaned back in his chair as he laughed. "So, if I make myself cry next time, your parents will cover for me again?"

The look Nino shot him could only be described as unimpressed. "Yeah, no. I don't think we can deal with all your father's questions again."

"I'm really sorry about the food requirements."

Beside her, Alya spoke up, "Why not just lie to him about the dinner?"

"Because the last time we tried to, _someone_ ," Nino started, shooting a pointed look towards his friend, "ended up spilling food over his shirt, then blabbed about everything when he got asked about his new outfit."

Adrien threw his hands up in exasperation. "I'm not good at being put on the spot!"

Putting a hand over her mouth, Marinette tried to muffle her laughter.

"Don't change the subject," Alya chastised, kicking underneath the desk to jostle Nino's chair.

Shooting his girlfriend a glare, Nino complained, "Hit him, not _me_."

"I can't hit him, so you'll have to do," Alya replied, trying to look innocent as she rested her chin on her open palm. "I wanna know all the details so I can sell them to the press later, Agreste."

He didn't bat an eyelash at that, knowing that she was joking. "All I'm going to say is that I can't wait to see her again."

Marinette had stopped feeling nervous when they sat next to each other since she'd started talking to him normally; it was a bit hard to come to terms with the fact that she'd idolised him a little, not seeing him for his flaws, but knowing that he'd stayed up too late because he was sending her his commentary on a dumb video online made it hard to think that he was a perfect person.

Sometimes, it was a bit amusing to wonder through the day why he was yawning into his hand, but it had to wait until she got home. Even though they were dating, she wasn't comfortable enough to put her identity on the line; it meant not using her microphone when they were talking or playing online, not signing into her instant messenger account on he phone, and making sure that the in-depth parts of her life that she told him were covered up with nicknames, or specifically not mentioning the name of stores that she went in.

It was a little awkward, but it was worth it.

While she made up nicknames for her friends, Adrien made up things about her.

"Tsukino," he blurted, looking a bit flustered as he squeezed his drink bottle a bit too tight. "Her last name's Tsukino, but please don't try and stalk her."

Marinette barely contained her sigh.

As she couldn't bring up everything she heard him say in class, as it would be suspicious, she had to wait for him to mention it when they were talking. Adrien hadn't really began trying to guess the identity of her friend, which was good, she supposed, but she had to be a bit careful and make sure not to reveal too much.

She really didn't want him to suspect that she was her own friend.

 **adrien [17:37]  
** _i don't know how to say this  
but you're japanese now  
sorry_

 **gduiuightr [17:39]  
** _what does this even mean?_

 **adrien [17:40]  
** _it means i panicked  
and made you japanese_

 **gduiuightr [17:41]  
** _but  
I'm not japanese_

 **adrien [17:43]  
** _i never claimed to not be an idiot, ui  
but my friends asked about you again  
and i couldn't say that i don't know your surname  
we're dating now!_

 **gduiuightr [17:44]  
** _so you gave me one  
why couldn't it be generic?_

 **adrien [17:46]  
** _i might've been watching anime on the way to school_

 **gduiuightr [17:46]  
** _what_ **  
** _  
_ **adrien [17:50]  
** _there was a traffic jam, okay  
i was bored_

 **gduiuightr [17:52]  
** _...did you give me an anime character's name?_

 **adrien [17:53]  
** _if it helps  
it's the main character_

 **gduiuightr [17:55]  
** _I hope this means I'm a main character in your eyes_

 **adrien [17:58]  
** _ui  
you're my love interest_

 **gduiuightr [18:00]  
** _we're dating_

 **adrien [18:01]  
** _confirmed love interest_

From what they were told by him, Ui Tsukino was their age, lived a few hours away, and wasn't interested in social media (that was his pitiful excuse to why Alya couldn't find her on anything, and he stubbornly stuck to it). She almost seemed like a different person when Adrien spoke about her, but it was clear from the smile that tugged on his lips and how his expression brightened up that he cared about her a lot.

Of course, Alya was still a bit dubious that Marinette was jealous that his feelings weren't directed her way. When her friend came over to her house for dinner and saw that the posters that she'd had of Adrien had disappeared, and the wallpaper of her computer wasn't a picture of him, it earned her a suspicious look.

All Marinette had cleaned up was signing out of the instant messenger she spoke to Adrien on, making sure the icon was off of her desktop so Alya wouldn't click it at any point. It wasn't foolproof, but deleting the program seemed a bit too extreme.

"I can't believe you're all grown up now," Alya said dramatically as she spun around in Marinette's desk chair. "Already over your first crush."

She blinked. "I'm pretty sure I had a crush on someone in preschool."

"Your first _crush_ ," Alya reiterated, putting emphasis on the last word. "I feel like I've missed out on so much. Was I too busy to pay attention to you?"

It was sweet, really. When Nino and Alya had started dating, Alya had tried to invite Marinette along at first, worried that they wouldn't spend much time together because of it. However, as much as she enjoyed being a third wheel—especially when Alya and Nino were too busy talking to even look her way for a good five minutes—she enjoyed staying inside and finding something to do by herself.

"I didn't really want to bring it up?" It came out sounding like a question, and from the curious look that was sent her way, it was clear that Alya had noticed it, too. "I mean, I just—it didn't seem that important?"

Alya parroted back, "Important?"

"Yeah," Marinette confirmed, reaching up to fiddle with her earrings. "When the city gets messed up almost every week, my feelings seem kind of... lame in comparison, I guess."

It was the wrong thing to say. That became apparent within moments when Alya had crossed the room, sitting down beside her on the ouch and pulling her into a tight hug.

Marinette spluttered as curly hair was shoved into her face, pushing it away so her face wasn't covered any more. "Alya?"

"You're not unimportant," her friend insisted, voice soft. "I don't care if you just want to tell me that your toe's hurting or something. I absolutely want to know."

For as close as they were, they'd only known each other for close to two years. Alya had transferred into her class and struck up a friendship with her immediately, but it meant that they hadn't spent years getting to know each other. Even so, while Marinette had been somewhat friends with her class-mates, having known the majority of them since they'd first started learning together, Alya was someone that she wanted to see outside of school.

It was just lucky that Alya felt the same way, and they often went over to each other's homes for dinners, or the occasional sleepover—though there was the threat of akumas, so Marinette kept that to a minimum with a few excuses.

While Alya didn't know about her identity, why her stamina had steadily increased since they'd met, and why she'd gotten over her crush on Adrien (or; rather, why it had developed into something more), she knew a lot of other things about her. Friendships didn't need to have everything out in the open, and that's what Marinette told herself whenever she felt guilty about keeping secrets.

It wasn't any worse than lying to her parents' faces and saying that she was safe, hiding with her other class-mates during an attack.

She swallowed.

"Thanks," Marinette whispered, returning the hug a little hesitantly. There were times that she really want to blurt everything out to her, but she couldn't."You're a really good friend, you know."

Alya sniffed. "Of course I am."

And she was. Alya was dedicated whenever she put her mind to something; whether it was trying to get Marinette and Adrien together—which had ended miserably from Alya's point of view—or focusing on a project and forcing the others in the group to contribute, or even running after Ladybug and Chat Noir in the evenings, trying to get the best angles and information for her blog that she ran for the superheroes.

She was pretty sure that if Alya wanted to, she'd be able to do anything.

"I promise to gush about anything that happens in the future," Marinette said as she pulled back, smile reaching her blue-coloured eyes. "Even if I fall down the stairs."

Alya grinned wide enough to show her gums. "You really should. I need all this if I'm going to write a biography on you in the future."

Marinette just rolled her eyes at that. "I highly doubt people want to know about my life at fourteen."

"They will if you end up with a noticeable scar," Alya pointed out, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "And I'll be the one with the full story—other than you, of course, but you're not very fond of talking about yourself."

That was one of the reasons that she never brought up the topic of Ui; well, other than asking about herself was odd in the first place, and she didn't want to bring any attention to the way she tried not to smile whenever Adrien mentioned her.

While she was able to act normal around him, no longer flustered whenever he glanced her way, it didn't mean that she was comfortable enough to freely be herself when they were sat next to each other. Sometimes, Marinette paused before she replied to him, and although they were friends within school, she didn't think that she wanted to meet him outside (no matter how rare that would be, considering his schedule).

So, when most of their class had arranged to meet up together at the weekend, Marinette declined and said that she'd already offered to help out at her parents' store. It had her receiving disappointed looks from that, but she didn't feel bad about it.

Even with close to a dozen of them going together, she didn't really want to go after she'd found out that Adrien had been given permission to go along.

 **adrien [16:38]  
** _i'll be gone for most of the day tomorrow  
going out with friends  
i finally got the ok to go!_

 **gduiuightr [16:40]  
** _I'm actually amazed that you're going out with permission  
what happened for him to say yes?_

 **adrien [16:42]  
** _i got an awkward hug  
and a pat on the back  
which i think is supposed to mean good job_

 **gduiuightr [16:45]  
** _it's a bit hard to know when your father's involved_

 **adrien [16:47]  
** _he's really fucking awkward  
but he always has been_

 **gduiuightr [16:48]  
** _you still haven't told me why this is happening_

 **adrien [16:50]  
** _i haven't ditched my driver in weeks  
so it's a reward, i guess  
not gonna complain and ruin my chances_

 **gduiuightr [16:51]  
** _I'm so proud of you  
sneaking around so stealthily_

 **adrien [16:55]  
** _speaking of sneaking around  
do you think we can meet up soon?_

 **gduiuightr [16:56]  
** _it's been like two weeks_

 **adrien [16:58]  
** _is that a no  
i won't lie and say i won't be upset  
i get it  
but i do want to see you again_

 **gduiuightr [17:00]  
** _I don't think it would be safe to  
I'm supposed to live far away, aren't I?_

 **adrien [17:02]  
** _but like  
i haven't said if you're rich or not_

 **gduiuightr [17:03]  
** _what_

 **adrien [17:05]  
** _a rich girlfriend could buy tickets to come see me_

 **gduiuightr [17:05]  
** _how many hours have you said I live away from you?_

 **adrien [17:06]  
** _idk  
i don't think i've given a straight answer to that one_

 **gduiuightr [17:08]  
** _let's pretend I'm only able to see you when I see a family member  
I think that'll be a good excuse  
right?_

 **adrien [17:09]  
** _does that make me the rich one in the relationship_

 **gduiuightr [17:11]  
** _that's really not something you're supposed to say  
do you know whether your friends are rich or not?  
because I don't_

 **adrien [17:12]  
** _but i could buy you tickets_

 **gduiuightr [17:13]  
** _adrien_

 **adrien [17:13]  
** _ui_

 **gduiuightr [17:16]  
** _I'm supposed to travel there, right?  
and with your lies, I live a few hours away_

 **adrien [17:18]  
** _correct  
calling them lies seems really mean  
i'm making you a really cool backstory_

 **gduiuightr [17:19]  
** _you're making me an anime character_

 **adrien [17:20]  
** _my anime girlfriend_

 **gduiuightr [17:24]  
** _shut up  
that either means we only get to spend a few hours together  
when you include the travel time  
or I have somewhere to stay_

 **adrien [17:26]  
** _your relative  
stay at their house_

 **gduiuightr [17:29]  
** _and impose on them all the time to see you?  
that's just inconsiderate_

 **adrien [17:30]  
** _they're not real_

 **gduiuightr [17:32]  
** _they're supposed to be  
pretend they're real  
give them names and backstories too_

 **adrien [17:33]  
** _you're letting me meet your family?  
that's so sweet_

 **gduiuightr [17:33]  
** _..._

 **adrien [17:34]  
** _that doesn't seem very nice_

 **gduiuightr [17:34]  
** _you're ridiculous_

 **adrien [17:35]  
** _but you love me this way_

 **gduiuightr [17:36]  
** _a little  
and you better not message me when you're with your friends tomorrow  
you barely ever get to see them outside of school_

 **adrien [17:38]  
** _that's a bit mean  
you don't want to talk to me any more, ui?_

 **gduiuightr [17:39]  
** _give them your full attention  
then you're all mine after_

 **adrien [17:40]  
** _that sounds like you're flirting with me_

 **gduiuightr [17:40]  
** _we're dating_

 **adrien [17:40]  
** _confirmed flirting_

-x-

While she knew, realistically, that her main power as Ladybug was reversing any damage that had happened to the city or the civilians within it—other than purifying the butterflies that were the origin of the destruction in the first place—it didn't mean that she didn't panic when she was actually faced with it in person. Sometimes, those infected and turned into akumas moved fast, and she didn't have time to observe the result of their attack.

However, there were other times were she saw a building crack, or someone fall to the ground with a pained sound due to her not being able to stop the actions. It caused her stomach to clench uncomfortably, a momentary feeling of guilty before she focused on her task, trying to work with Chat Noir to return everything back to normal.

Then, there were the times where she saw something about to happen and a lump formed quickly in her throat, a feeling of dread running through her.

With a flick of her wrist, she was able to get the string of her bandalore to wrap around Adrien's body, secure enough so that when they tugged, he was pulled towards her away from the vehicle that had been tossed aside as though it had weighed nothing.

His eyes were wide as she caught him—the suit making it easy to hold and lift something heavier than her usual capabilities—she didn't have time to smooth out his messy hair or see whether she'd caused scrapes to appear on his skin before she rolled out of the way of another attack.

Adrien wasn't optimistic enough to stay and try and help her—and she was glad for that, really. Sometimes, when strangers tried to show their courage and help out with attacks, it resulted in more disaster than usual, as her and Chat weren't used to working with others.

It had taken them months to be so in sync, and that was from only seeing each other when there was danger.

When her partner appeared some minutes later, Marinette openly complained, "I've been waiting _forever_ , Chat!"

"I was on the other side of the city!" he replied, grinning widely as he entered the fray. "And is that you admitting that you missed me?"

It was a comment that suited him so well that at any other time, she would've laughed. While she found Chat a bit annoying the first time they met each other, that had grown as they continued to work together; from trying to arrange either of them patrolling at night in the beginning before realising how much of a waste of time it would've been, to the two of them winking as they parted ways at the end, it was hard not to feel like friends when they trusted each other indefinitely.

Afterwards, Marinette ran as fast as she could to her bedroom, impatiently tapping her foot on the floor as her computer booted up.

When it had loaded up and she'd speedily typed her password it, she didn't hesitate to open up her chat with Adrien. Her lips curled into a frown as she saw that he hadn't sent a message in the past few hours, too preoccupied with what was happening.

The worry she'd felt for him was a lot more than she'd been prepared for. There was always a nagging feeling of not being good enough when someone got hurt, but they usually weren't close to her; sometimes it was strangers she'd passed on streets, or her class-mates that had gotten caught up from the reason why the akuma had been created, but—

Seeing him in danger was a lot different than it was before.

It had been months since Adrien had last been involved, and back then, she'd overreacted, even considering giving up her miraculous in a desperate situation to make sure that he was okay—but that was back when she'd idolised him, thinking that he could do no wrong.

 **gduiuightr [15:31]  
** _you almost got hit today  
what were you doing outside?  
I'm sorry if I hurt you  
but I kind of panicked when I saw you there_

 **adrien [15:33]  
** _i'm sorry  
i really didn't mean to scare you  
it just wasn't safe where i was_

 **gduiuightr [15:36]  
** _you were about to be hit by a car_

 **adrien [15:40]  
** _were  
you saved me like a true superhero_

 **gduiuightr [15:42]  
** _don't downplay this  
you'd still be hurt if it hit you_

 **adrien [15:43]  
** _but it didn't because of you  
so thank you, ladybug_

 **gduiuightr [15:47]  
** _if I see you at an attack again  
I'll drop you off in a safe place myself_

 **adrien [15:48]  
** _i don't think that'll work  
you'd just lure them to where people are hiding_

 **gduiuightr [15:49]  
** _what am I supposed to do then?_ **  
** _  
_ **adrien [15:52]  
** _you're already doing everything right  
you can't save everyone  
and that means me_

 **gduiuightr [15:53]  
** _that doesn't make me feel any better_

 **adrien [15:54]  
** _thank you for saving me, ui  
again  
i really love you_

 **gduiuightr [15:55]  
** _I hope I never have to again_

 **adrien [15:57]  
** _that means i'll have to try not piss anyone off  
that might be a bit hard  
sorry_

 **gduiuightr [15:57]  
** _I want to hurt you_

 **adrien [15:58]  
** _please don't  
i'm very fragile_

Although she knew that he wouldn't have any scratches or bruises on him, not after she'd reverted everything, Marinette still let out a sigh of relief when she saw that he was okay the following day. When she'd confirmed that she was fine, she returned back to doodling on her notepad, not working on the questions that the teacher had directed them to do.

She didn't realise that she was being addressed until Alya pointedly poked her with her elbow.

Marinette jumped, her knees hitting the top of her desk and causing a hiss to escape her as she reached down to put her hand over the area that was stinging. "Wh—what?" she stuttered, turning to look at her friend when she realised that the teacher wasn't looking her way. "That was a bit unnecessary, wasn't it?"

Alya just shrugged. "You were ignoring everyone."

"Everyone?" she questioned, a bit surprised by how much she'd managed to block out. "I—what?"

"Me," Adrien spoke up from in front, and when she turned to look at him, she noticed that he was almost sitting backwards in his seat, facing her and Alya instead of his actual desk (an uncomfortable position that she'd been in a few times). "You blanked me for a bit, but I wasn't going to resort to hitting you."

She blinked. "Thanks?"

"For not hurting you?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows. "You're welcome, I guess. I'm nice like that."

A laugh escaped her at that. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Are you trying to say you don't think I'm nice?" Adrien asked, and while his expression was offended, it wasn't portrayed in his voice. "I'm so hurt."

"I'm sure," Marinette repeated, lips curling into a smile, thinking of all the times he'd typed that phrase to her. "What do you want?"

Resting his hands on the back of his chair, clearly trying to be comfortable despite twisting halfway around to talk to her, he continued to say, "Well, I _was_ trying to get you to go to the cinema with me—"

As easy as it was to talk to him, it didn't mean that he'd specifically singled her out to meet outside of school before; usually, it was because of Alya or Nino that it happened, not an invitation from Adrien himself.

"Why?" she bluntly interrupted, a bit bewildered.

Adrien faltered for a moment, visibly surprised that she'd asked that. With his green-coloured eyes flickering to their two friends beside them that were comparing notes—Alya almost completely out of her seat as she leaned forward—he admitted, "Because I have no one else to go with?"

She raised her eyebrows. "So, you want to go with me because of that?"

"It's what friends do, isn't it?"

It was nice to hear him classify them as friends; clearly, it hadn't just been her one-sidedly thinking that their conversations were easier in the past months. As much as she wanted to agree, to spend some time with him alone, she knew that it wouldn't be a good idea.

Looking back down at her work, she fiddled with her pen as she replied, "It is, but I think I might be busy."

"I haven't even said when it is," Adrien answered quietly.

Staring at the paper instead of seeing if his expression had fallen, Marinette continued to use her lie from before, "I promised to help my parents out a lot since we're always busy in the summer."

"Okay," he said, and it sounded a little hollow. "I understand."

Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. "Sorry," she apologised, hoping that it didn't come across as insincere. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, but she had a larger picture to look at, rather than just spending as much time with him as possible.

There was a reason that she hadn't just admitted who she was when the first card had been signed wrongly.

"It's okay," Adrien tried to assure her, but it didn't sound very convincing. "Maybe next time, yeah?"

She swallowed. "Yeah."

-x-

She didn't accept many invitations in the future.

When it was just Alya inviting her over to her house, her coming over to Marinette's, she was fine with accepting them. However, when a class-mate mentioned meeting up with a small group, she just declined immediately, rather than trying to find out whether Adrien would be attending.

It would've been a little awkward if they realised that she was avoiding any of them where he was present.

As Adrien never mentioned her actual identity to Ui, he either hadn't noticed, or it wasn't a big enough deal for him to tell her about. Adrien spoke freely whenever he was on microphone, which was usually when they played a game together, and told her a lot more than when they were just typing. From the brief conversations he had with his father when they were both at home, to the new staff members that he met and befriended when they visited his house, and the silly things that happened throughout the day.

With the daily messages to always look forward to, when she logged on at the weekend to find that she'd had none (after really helping her parents out, as she had nothing better to do), she was a bit surprised.

It took two hours for Adrien to come online, and when he did, it was clear from his typing that something was wrong.

 **adrien [17:47]  
** _sorry  
i'm probably not very fun to talk to right now_

 **gduiuightr [17:50]  
** _that's fine, adrien  
you don't have to tell me what's up  
we can do anything you want  
or I can leave you alone  
any of the above_

 **adrien [17:52]  
** _why are you always so nice_

 **gduiuightr [17:52]  
** _because I like you_

 **adrien [17:54]  
** _you're going to melt my cold heart_

 **gduiuightr [17:55]  
** _there's nothing cold about you_

 **adrien [17:55]  
** _that's where you're wrong  
apparently, i'm in my rebellious phase_

 **gduiuightr [17:56]  
** _…  
the only rebellious thing you do is try and sneak out  
and it's not even at night_

 **adrien [17:57]  
** _i haven't done for that months  
let it die_

 **gduiuightr [17:57]  
** _you didn't get caught doing that?_

 **adrien [17:58]  
** _sneaking out?  
no  
looking at my phone while my dad is talking  
is considered rebellious_

 **gduiuightr [17:58]  
** _I wondered where you were  
spending the day with him?_

 **adrien [18:00]  
** _don't make me laugh  
we went out for lunch  
then didn't actually have lunch  
because he didn't approve of the menu_

 **gduiuightr [18:01]  
** _lunch was hours ago?_

 **adrien [18:01]  
** _we came home and had lunch here  
and then i think we had a staring contest  
before he asked me about my grades_

 **gduiuightr [18:02]  
** _but you don't even know your grades yet_

 **adrien [18:02]  
** _idk do you wanna be the one to tell him that  
but basically  
it ended with him yelling and he took away my phone  
so i can't send you messages throughout the day now_

 **gduiuightr [18:03]  
** _did he say how long he's taking it for?_

 **adrien [18:03]  
** _until i learn some manners_

 **gduiuightr [18:03]  
** _dumb but okay_

 **adrien [18:04]  
** _isn't a rebellious phase like  
dying hair or getting piercings?_

 **gduiuightr [18:04]  
** _please do neither of them_

 **adrien [18:05]  
** _you don't want to dye my hair for me?_

 **gduiuightr [18:05]  
** _I'm terrified of your father  
please don't make me_

 **adrien [18:05]  
** _it could be washout dye for one of our dates  
or even a fake piercing  
make me look edgy_

 **gduiuightr [18:06]  
** _there's nothing edgy about you  
you're soft _

**adrien [18:06]  
** …  
 _i'm what_

 **gduiuightr [18:07]  
** _not in the dirty way, you idiot_

 **adrien [18:07]  
** _ok  
i'm soft in an innocent way_

 **gduiuightr [18:07]  
** _I take it all back_

 **adrien [18:08]  
** _you can't do that  
you love me_

 **gduiuightr [18:08]  
** _our love is cancelled_

What she knew about Adrien's father was limited. She'd idolised him for his work—Gabriel Agreste's experience as a designer was something that everyone interested in the industry looked upon in envy—and had kept track of his collections since she'd become interested in fashion, and it was from there that she'd seen a few pictures of Adrien before he'd transferred to her school. While she enjoyed his work, she hadn't been interested in looking up gossip articles or finding out about his life, so it was only from Adrien's offhanded comments that she got her information from.

On the other hand, Gabriel Agreste's over-protectiveness was notorious in their class. There were rumours why that was, but no one had any confirmation to them. Marinette preferred to stray away from the gossip, not wanting to talk about Adrien's family behind his back, but the general topic wasn't hard to pick up on.

His mother had been a popular actress. Marinette couldn't quite remember her name right off the top of her head, not when she hadn't been brought up to watch her films, but she remembered it being a big deal when she died a few years ago.

Still, for being a single parent, Adrien's father had help in the form of his assistant, a driver for Adrien; there was always constantly someone in his life, and it seemed to smother him at times.

It was common knowledge that permission needed to be given before Adrien was allowed to do anything, and his father wasn't likely to give that; from simply walking to school, attending birthday parties, or visiting a friend's home, Adrien had reluctantly told everyone no when he explained that his father just wasn't comfortable with that.

While her own parents hadn't felt comfortable with her walking to school by herself until she was in her current school, she found it a bit hard to imagine Adrien's life where he was rejected from doing anything. From the times she'd inside his room as Ladybug—never Marinette, not when it was difficult to be allowed to visit his home—she'd seen that it was large, filled with games and other things to keep him occupied, something to replace the things that he wasn't allowed to do.

It was no wonder that Adrien tried to sneak out to have time to himself. From the driver that escorted him everywhere, the messages he sent to say that he arrived to places safely, and the restricted diet—a planned one, not one where he starved himself—it seemed that every aspect of his life was controlled in some way.

When they returned to school, it was clear that his mood was dampened. Adrien wasn't as active as he usually was, and instead of telling the silly details of his weekend to Nino, he was doodling on his paper instead, taking up the area where he was supposed to write the date when the teacher came in.

As much as she wanted to reach out, to maybe put a hand on his shoulder and ask what was wrong, she didn't think it would be appropriate. The last time he'd been alone with her as Marinette had been almost months ago, and they certainly weren't close enough to have a heart-to-heart.

More often than not, her lips were tugging down into a frown whenever she heard him sigh during class.

"Can't," Adrien said bluntly when Nino asked him to call him later as they were packing up their things. "Phone's been taken away for... I don't know how long, really. It might be a while."

Nino made a noise of disappointment. "Dude, what did you _do_?"

"Nothing bad!" he responded with a sigh, putting the strap of his bag on his shoulder. "I just—it's a bit tense at home lately, that's all."

"Oh." Nino's voice was soft. "It's—it's that time, right?"

Adrien reply was in the form of a half-hearted shrug. Even though she wanted to listen to more, Alya was already beside her wanting to get out, and Marinette didn't want to eavesdrop without his permission—it was intrusive, and she knew that he wouldn't be saying those words to her.

Her throat felt tight.

"Bye, Adrien, Nino," she offered quietly on her way past, keeping her eyes on the door.

Without the phone, Adrien should've made it home sooner than her. Marinette strayed to a local store to pick up a few items for her parents that day, pausing on her way back to buy a drink, too, since the temperature was getting hotter, and by the time that she climbed up the ladder to her bedroom, it was over half an hour later than usual.

And yet, Adrien's last message was from the night before, when he'd stayed up a bit later than her.

 **gduiuightr [16:06]  
** _hey  
not to be creepy or anything  
but I heard that you were sad today  
who am I kidding, that's definitely creepy  
I'm trying to be cute but it's failing_

To cheer him up, she looked up some silly videos that were recommended to her, searching through a few of them to find the best ones, and then pasting the links into their chat. It was enough to amuse her for a bit while she impatiently waited, and she idly wondered if that was how he felt when he had to wait hours for her to reply—then again, he knew that she wouldn't answer, while she was waiting for him to log in at any moment.

She'd given up for a bit and gone to shower, dressing in her pyjamas afterwards as she sat back down onto her desk chair, spinning a little bit as she put her feet up onto the seat, knees against her chest.

When the sound notification appeared, she jumped.

Rather than replying with text, Adrien had called her as soon as he logged in.

"Hey," he greeted, his voice quiet and barely picked up. "I'm used to you being creepy by now, you know. I think it's the reason that I'm dating you."

 **gduiuightr [16:49]  
** _that's an awful reason!_

His laugh was half-hearted. "You're always cute, Ui."

 **gduiuightr [16:50]  
** _of course I am_

 _it just took you a while to realise that_

"No," he denied, drawing out the vowel. "You just didn't know that I did—I was crushing on you for a while, remember? Even if you didn't believe me."

 **gduiuightr [16:51]  
** _don't try and change the subject  
we're talking about my spy telling me about your sighs_

He hummed. "Maybe they were sighs while I thought about you? The dreamy kind that's often shown in films and stuff."

 **gduiuightr [16:51]  
** _ridiculous  
I don't sigh and think about you_

"I'm offended."

 **gduiuightr [16:52]  
** _okay look  
maybe I did a bit  
but now I've moved on_

Sound was picked up as he moved around, and she'd heard it enough to know that it was his chair squeaking as he scooted forward. "I have a question before I answer any of that," Adrien admitted. "How do you get your friend to tell you any of this? She doesn't know that we're—well, dating, right?"

The way his voice had cracked at the end was endearing.

 **gduiuightr [16:53]  
** _she doesn't know, of course  
she just thinks I have a massive crush on you still  
and that I was sad that you're dating ui  
I'm my own worst enemy_

The laugh that escaped him was nice to hear; it was slightly breathy at the end, a sign that it was a true one, one where his eyes would crinkle at the corners as he genuinely smiled. "You can't hate yourself!"

 **gduiuightr [16:54]  
** _if it keeps my spy telling me that you might be unhappy with ui  
then I'm going to hate ui with all my might_

"You just dislike the name," he mused, amusement clear in his voice. "Ui Tsukino is a wonderful person, I'll have you know. She has a really nice aunt, too. Her name's Nami."

 **gduiuightr [16:54]  
** _what do you mean her name's nami  
I don't have an aunt named that  
or an aunt at all?_

"Careful, you're close to telling me about your life there!" Adrien chastised, not sounding serious at all. "You asked me to make up a backstory for your family, didn't you? Well, there you go. That's the family member you stay with when you're here to visit."

It was silly, and as she went to accuse him of that, she heard the distinct sound of paper being moved.

He pointedly cleared his throat. "I've decided that she's single, sadly, after a recent breakup where her boyfriend got fired from his job and didn't bother to look for a new one. Nami's a good person, but even she wouldn't put up with someone like that. Also, she likes to have tea in the mornings, but she doesn't like me enough to offer me any."

 **gduiuightr [16:55]  
** _...why would you be there in the mornings?_

"Oh." There was a pause. "That's a good point. I can't sleepover at an imaginary place, and there's no way I'll be able to sneak you past security to spend the night at mine—just getting make-up on the sheets would be hard enough to explain."

There was a lot of things she wanted to say to that—along with asking about Nami's identity more, as it seemed that he'd written it down—but Marinette decided to just accept what he'd offered instead.

 **gduiuightr [16:56]  
** _no sleepovers in our future  
I'm sorry_

"It's okay," Adrien replied, smile clear in his voice. "It's not like Nami can use the phone to answer my father's questions anyway."

 **gduiuightr [16:56]  
** _he still holding your phone hostage?_

He snorted. "Yeah. It's not like he'd actually come into my room to take away my laptop, too, so we're fine."

 **gduiuightr [16:57]  
** _I'm glad you can keep your precious safe  
still not going well with him?_

"That's an understatement," he muttered. "It's just—you won't really know this, but despite what everyone says, my mother's not dead."

She blinked.

Adrien had just never mentioned his mother before.

Of course, there'd been whispers when he transferred into their class, her class-mates muttering all they knew about him when he appeared, especially when they tried to match the image they'd had of him in their minds to him in person. It was only natural that his parents would be brought into the conversation when they were popular enough for articles about them to pop up on the internet (something only Marinette and a few others could say about their parents, but it had only been once or twice for theirs).

It made her throat feel right as she wondered how many times Adrien had heard people whispering about his mother.

"No, she—she _might_ be," Adrien continued on, voice a bit muffled, and she wondered whether he was covering his face somehow. "She's just... she's not _here_. I don't—"

 **gduiuightr [17:03]  
** _you don't have to tell me, adrien_

She wanted to do so much more, but typing was all that she could manage. Putting her microphone on to talk to him was a terrible idea, something they'd both confirmed in the past, and going to see him as Ladybug was just—the thought of it was despicable, as it was an invasion of privacy. Even if he was the one to invite her over, there was the chance that someone would see her enter, and photographic evidence would've been hard to explain when she was questioned after an attack.

"She's not here," he repeated, his voice sounding so small and barely audible. "And—and ever since she's gone, it's all been so messed up. I'm not _allowed—_ "

The choked sound that followed caused her to flinch.

Adrien was constantly full of bright smiles, an upbeat personality that made any conversation better, but to hear him sobbing was something else entirely. Marinette just stared at the screen, not knowing what to do—just typing seemed so insignificant as he sniffed.

Her hand clenched into a fist from frustration at herself.

For as much as she wanted to be there for him, she couldn't. What was the point of trying to be close to him when they couldn't actually do anything? He was literally sobbing on the microphone, no longer trying to address her as he cried, and she couldn't do _anything_ other than type.

Marinette very much doubted that he'd be able to read her messages with blurry eyes.

What were her messages compared to someone actually being there for him?

She shook her head.

 **gduiuightr [17:07]  
** _this is really hard for you but  
I'm here to listen if you ever need to talk  
or type, okay?  
I'm sorry I can't be there in person, but this is the best I can do  
and I can promise not to bring your father up in conversation  
if you want, that is_

His response was to disconnect the call.

For a moment, she just stared, wondering whether she'd said the wrong thing to him. Comforting someone who was in tears was an occurrence that appeared almost every fortnight, but that didn't mean that she was _good_ at it. Trying to tell someone that it would be okay when she only had a time limit of a few minutes before her transformation dropped was completely different to a crying friend when she didn't know how long it would last for.

She blinked rapidly, not wanting to give into her tears of frustration.

There wasn't anything that she could really do for him. She wondered whether Nino would've been better suited for it; the two of them hadn't needed to speak in full sentences when Adrien had conveyed what was wrong with him, and that was something she didn't think she'd ever experience.

It wasn't jealousy she was feeling, not really—it more her being insignificant. For someone that could make him smile with just the mention of her fake name, there wasn't much she could do at that moment.

It made her feel bitter.

Some minutes later, when Marinette was just staring at her screen, twirling in her seat to try and keep herself occupied, a message popped up.

 **adrien [17:21]  
** _sorry for freaking out on you there  
a bit embarrassing_

 **gduiuightr [17:22]  
** _you don't have to apologise!  
I'm not going to run away because you showed some emotion_

 **adrien [17:22]  
** _i show you emotion everyday  
are you saying that's not enough for you  
i'm hurt_

 **gduiuightr [17:24]  
** _you're usually just happy with me  
not that that's a problem!  
it's just  
I didn't know whether you'd trust me enough to tell me the sad things?  
if that makes sense_

 **adrien [17:25]  
** _of course i trust you  
what kind of question is that?_

 **gduiuightr [17:25]  
** _a valid one_

 **adrien [17:26]  
** _sure, ui  
we barely get to talk as it is  
i don't want to fill that up with whining_

 **gduiuightr [17:27]  
** _it's not whining  
I want to know everything about you, adrien_

 **adrien [17:28]  
** _that's just unfair  
i can't know everything about you_

 **gduiuightr [17:28]  
** _I'm sorry_

 **adrien [17:30]  
** _fuck  
i wasn't trying to be a dick  
please don't be sad  
we can't both be sad here_

 **gduiuightr [17:31]  
** _I'm sad that you're sad  
it's contagious_

 **adrien [17:32]  
** _am i worse than a yawn though_

 **gduiuightr [17:32]  
** _definitely  
then again yawns do make people cry too  
maybe you're on the same level_

 **adrien [17:33]  
** _i've made you cry?_

 **gduiuightr [17:33]  
** _I mean  
I did panic a bit when you just left_

 **adrien [17:34]  
** _i was embarrassed!  
i almost slammed the laptop shut before i thought better of it  
sorry_

 **gduiuightr [17:35]  
** _there's no need to be embarrassed!  
would it make you feel better  
if I told you something embarrassing?_

 **adrien [17:36]  
** _that's happened to you?  
i always wanna hear about you_

 **gduiuightr [17:38]  
** _don't be cute_

 **adrien [17:38]  
** _you're only dating me because i'm cute  
my face is my best feature_

 **gduiuightr [17:38]  
** _not true_

 **adrien [17:39]  
** _are you calling me ugly?_

 **gduiuightr [17:39]  
** _no, idiot  
I like you for your personality  
not your looks  
they're not a bad bonus, but they're not everything_

 **adrien [17:40]  
** _now who's being cute_

 **gduiuightr [17:40]  
** _leave me alone  
anyway  
moving on_

 **adrien [17:41]  
** _okay, cutie_

 **gduiuightr [17:41]  
** _stop_

 **adrien [17:41]  
** _cutie has ui in it_

 **gduiuightr [17:42]  
** _that's not how that works!_

 **adrien [17:42]  
** _tell me embarrassing things, uiui tsukino_

 **gduiuightr [17:42]  
** _that's really not my name_

 **adrien [17:43]  
** _don't be mean to my girlfriend  
she's wonderful and the main character  
of the anime of our lives_

 **gduiuightr [17:43]  
** _that sounds kinda racist_

 **adrien [17:44]  
** _i'm sorry for making you japanese!_

 **gduiuightr [17:44]  
** _don't you ever dare suggest we meet in cosplay  
it's not a good enough disguise_

 **adrien [17:45]  
** _but it would be more fun than fake moles, right?  
i don't think fake moles would even work  
like  
what if i paint on freckles as well  
is someone gonna look at me and think  
it can't really be me because of them?_

 **gduiuightr [17:46]  
** _that only works in fiction  
imagine if I turned up to meet your friends  
with only a fake mole  
anyone of them that I know will recognise me instantly_

 **adrien [17:47]  
** _so you're memorable_

 **gduiuightr [17:47]  
** _I'm friends with someone in your class, dumbass_

 **adrien [17:48]  
** _i forget someone's face if it's been a few months  
remembering is hard_

 **gduiuightr [17:48]  
** _really?_

 **adrien [17:48]  
** _yeah  
even for family members  
but when i see them in person  
it like clicks, you know?  
just the time in between is pretty awkward  
if i don't see any pictures of them_

 **gduiuightr [17:49]  
** _I'm good at remembering things most of the time  
just like telling you about something embarrassing  
are you ready for this?_

 **adrien [17:49]  
** _hit me_

 **gduiuightr [17:50]  
** _that's not our kink_

 **adrien [17:50]  
** _we're sharing kinks now?  
relationship goals_

 **gduiuightr [17:51]  
** _moving on  
so I went to deliver something to a family friend  
and I ended up tripping on the doorstep  
when they opened the door to ask what happened  
I just sobbed because there was cake in my eyes_

 **adrien [17:51]  
** _this sounds sad  
not embarrassing_

 **gduiuightr [17:52]  
** _same thing right  
it was really awkward, okay  
I hadn't seen their kids since  
I dunno  
a few years  
so they were looking at me weirdly_

 **adrien [17:52]  
** _what a great way to make friends_

 **gduiuightr [17:53]  
** _heck no  
they didn't even recognise me until my name was said  
I left after they gave me something to change into  
and it was a really ugly t-shirt  
I think they did it on purpose_

 **adrien [17:54]  
** _nothing compared to your sweet outfit before  
right?_

 **gduiuightr [17:54]  
** _I'm deleting you_

 **adrien [17:55]  
** _no please  
we need to be cute so we get a second season_

 **gduiuightr [17:55]  
** _you just want the filler episodes  
I'm not going to the pool with you_

 **adrien [17:56]  
** _but it's summer, ui!  
it's so hot_

 **gduiuightr [17:56]  
** _suffer_

-x-

With the end of the year, it meant that their teachers had finished all their material for their lessons. Exams were over for the classes that needed them, and the last day before they were officially on break was for the teachers to laze around after they put something to watch on at the front of the class for everyone to see.

As their seating arrangements were always the same, it meant that when Alya wanted to sit beside Nino while they watched a film, either Marinette had to move, or Adrien did. Nino just grinned when the film was put on for their last class, the minutes before summer break ticking down as everyone was busy talking with each other, no longer having to focus on work, and Marinette just accepted her fate and collected her bag as she got out of her seat.

Adrien offered her a smile as he stood out to let Nino pass and Marinette take the empty seat.

She returned it a bit nervously, putting the bag down by her feet before curling her legs up beneath her, trying to get comfortable on the chair.

The lights had been dimmed, the curtains pulled shut to stop the sunshine coming in so the screen could be seen clearly, and the volume had been turned up so it was audible at the back of the room. The teacher didn't care that they were speaking; the film wasn't educational, unlike one of the other ones they'd watched a few hours ago, and that meant that barely anyone was paying attention to it.

As their friends were busy talking behind them, Adrien turned towards her, resting his chin in his palm as he patiently waited to get her attention.

It was fine—it _would_ be fine. It didn't matter that she knew almost everything about him, nor that she'd heard him sobbing a few weeks ago when he'd opened up to her, while his relationship with her as Marinette could barely class them as friends.

"Hey," he greeted when she looked up at him, his smile reaching his green-coloured eyes. "Thanks for offering to swap. I'm really attached to my seat."

She blinked.

At her expression, Adrien laughed and admitted, "It was a joke. I was just trying to get you to laugh."

"Oh," she said, feeling a bit lame. "Sorry, I guess I'm just a bit distracted today."

"Today?" he questioned, tilting his head slightly, and even if she wasn't looking at him, she would've been able to hear the smile in his voice as he teased her. "You've been absent-minded for a few months now. I almost thought that you didn't like me, Marinette."

That had never been her intention, but she could understand why he'd thought that—goodness, if anything, her reactions around him before she'd confessed could've been interpreted as dislike more than her current ones.

"No, not at all!" she defended, a bit loud, but it didn't matter compared to the noise of the classroom. "I just—I don't really know how to befriend you, I guess? I don't dislike you at all, Adrien."

"Oh." His smile widened, looking every bit as genuine as it had before. "That's a relief, then. It was one of my top fears."

She looked at him strangely. "Someone disliking you?"

"No, you disliking me," Adrien corrected without missing a beat. "It's a bit weird that we don't actually talk that much, isn't it?"

A bit bewildered, she replied, "A bit, I guess."

"You're guessing a lot," he mused, looking at her with raised eyebrows. "Is that you saying that you don't want to befriend me?"

"Not at all," she reiterated, feeling as though she was saying the same things multiple times, a bit befuddled with how the day had turned out. Adrien trying to befriend her, properly, hadn't really occurred to her, not when it was the last day they'd see each other for a few months. "I never thought you were really interested?"

The only way to describe his expression was incredulous. "Marinette, we eat lunch together every day."

"Yes," she confirmed with a nod of her head to indicate to the couple behind them. "It's kind of a given when our best friends are dating, isn't it?"

Running a hand through his hair, causing the blond strands to fall out of place when it fell back down to his lap, Adrien's eyes were averted as he said, "I thought... I don't know, really. I thought maybe it would develop into us talking more, but it really hasn't."

She shrugged half-heartedly, a feeling of guilt appearing and making her feel uncomfortable. "If this is you asking whether you can text me or not, then the answer's yes."

"Oh." He blinked, looking surprised. "I can?"

Marinette shifted in her seat. "You don't have to look so shocked—we're friends, remember? You've been round my house before, and it's not like you don't have my number."

"I don't know," he admitted, a bit bashful. "I'm a bit new to this whole making friends thing."

It made her heart clench. He'd been in their class for almost two years, adapting from being homeschooled in the past; there had been some difficulties in the beginning, especially since he wasn't used to seating plans, and was a bit bewildered when they had to walk around the school to get to different areas at times, but he'd been doing well.

Adrien got on with most of their class, but, like with her, it seemed that he didn't try to develop friendships without of their time at school. Growing up with Nino in her every class, Marinette hadn't seen him outside of the occasional birthday party, or the large sleepovers that were held before puberty had hit (that changed a few things when that had happened—namely, parents not wanting mixed genders for sleepovers, even though anything beyond hand-holding wasn't on a lot of their minds).

"I wouldn't have given you my number if I didn't want you to message me," Marinette admitted, remembering how overwhelmed she'd felt when it had first happened. "Besides, if you're annoying, I'll just ignore you."

That got a laugh out of him. "You're sure?"

"Definitely," she stated, lips curling into a smile. "As long as it's not super early; I like to sleep in during the holidays."

He returned the grin, showing his teeth. "Aren't you helping your parents?"

"Afternoon shift," she replied without pausing to think. It was good that she'd used the same excuse for weeks on end, and she'd almost perfected the art of lying about it at that point—though, she wasn't as confident with her lies about other things. "I'm sorry if I've been ignoring you lately, but I'm not doing it because I dislike you. I'm just not good at socialising, I think."

"That's a lie," he insisted, and she froze for a moment, wondering what he was referring to. Then, as his smile grew, the corners of his eyes crinkling, Adrien added on, "There's a reason that everyone always comes to talk to you, especially if they have a problem. You're really approachable, Marinette."

Her cheeks warmed. "I guess," she said, feeling shy as she tucked some stray hairs behind her ears. "It just—I prefer to be alone sometimes, you know? So, I don't really mind when my summer's free. I'm not going to complain about being able to be in my pyjamas all day."

"Until you have customers to serve," he pointed out.

She raised her chin haughtily. "Who says I won't be working in the kitchens?"

"Me." He grinned. "I already asked Nino, and he said you're only allowed at the counter. Something about sales going up when grannies get to pinch your cheeks."

She snorted. "That's an absolute lie."

"I'll never believe you," Adrien sang, his voice playful. "Besides, if I saw you at the counter, I'd definitely buy something."

It was friendly, that was all. As much as those words would've meant something different when they were online—when it was directed at Ui—it wasn't the same at that moment, but that didn't mean she didn't have a similar reaction. To her embarrassment, she could feel her face growing hotter again, and she shifted in her seat, trying to hide the colour that had appeared.

"And ruin your diet?" she said, pausing to clear her throat. "I don't want to be murdered by your father."

There was a moment where she wondered if she'd said the wrong thing. Even though Adrien hadn't confirmed that it was what he wanted, she hadn't mentioned his father online for a few weeks, letting him be the one to bring it up—which turned out to be often, other than him lamenting that his phone was still confiscated.

Then, to her relief, Adrien just shook his head and laughed. "Please," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "As if he'd do it himself. I'm pretty sure he'd hire someone to do it instead—can't be getting his hands dirty now, can he?"

"I'm absolutely terrified," she deadpanned.

"You should be," he agreed, the grin not leaving his face. "Even an old man crossing the street is a potential assassin."

She pretended to shudder. "I'll have to live my life in constant fear."

The laughter that escaped him was honest and familiar, the kind that she heard almost every night before he was up late, trying to keep quiet so he wouldn't alert anyone to him being too stubborn to go to bed. "This is only happening if I see you at the counter," Adrien pointed out.

A bit reluctantly, Marinette averted her eyes as she muttered, "You better keep your eyes closed when you pass my windows, then."

"I knew it!"

"You didn't know it," she corrected, crossing her hands. "You asked someone else, which I'm pretty sure counts as cheating."

He just smiled. "At least I was honest about it."

"True," she agreed.

It didn't seem that important to her—well, that wasn't true. She considered a lot about Adrien important, but she doubted that he saw it the same way that she did. After class had been dismissed and Marinette hugged more of her class-mates than usual as said they'd see each other in September, she didn't think much of.

She spoke to him later that night as Ui, and Adrien didn't mention anything about reaching out to be her Marinette. Then, as the days started to pass and she walked around the home in her pyjamas, happy that she really didn't have to help out with the store until the weekend, since her parents still wanted her to have free time, the messages that she received on her phone were mostly from Alya.

It didn't make her feel sad, but she did wonder whether he wanted her to reach out first.

So, she sent a simple text to him, just saying hello.

Instead of replying to her—when she could see that he'd read the message—Adrien answered her in a different way.

 **adrien [14:05]  
** _ui  
you know i love you, right?_

 **gduiuightr [14:06]  
** _what did you do?_

 **adrien [14:07]  
** _don't just assume i did something bad  
you're offensive  
i'm an angel_

 **gduiuightr [14:07]  
** _I'm sure._

 **adrien [14:08]  
** _that dot went straight through my heart, uiui_

 **gduiuightr [14:08]  
** _if you insist on calling me that  
I'll call you riri_

 **adrien [14:09]  
** _now who's the one making us anime_

 **gduiuightr [14:09]  
** _why are you like this_

 **adrien [14:09]  
** _call me riri_

 **gduiuightr [14:10]  
** _you make it sound dirty  
so no_

 **adrien [14:10]  
** _i'm too young to be a dad  
i've gotta ask for something else_

 **gduiuightr [14:10]  
** _why!_

 **adrien [14:11]  
** _i'm hip  
and down with the trends  
but that doesn't mean i understand them_

 **gduiuightr [14:11]  
** _let's forget this conversation ever happened  
rewind back to you telling me you love me_

 **adrien [14:12]  
** _that's always a good point  
ui  
uiui, i love you  
but i need to know if you're the jealous type_

 **gduiuightr [14:14]  
** _I literally have a spy in your school  
and I haven't said anything  
about you hugging or friends or stuff_

 **adrien [14:15]  
** _that's a no, right?_

 **gduiuightr [14:16]  
** _as long as there's no romantic interest?_

 **adrien [14:16]  
** _you sound middle-aged_

 **gduiuightr [14:17]  
** _don't make our love even more impure  
you're dirtying us, adrien_

 **adrien [14:17]  
** _i'm a bad egg_

 **gduiuightr [14:18]  
** _you really are  
I'm not jealous without a good reason to be  
it's not like I can even be controlling when we're long-distance_

 **adrien [14:18]  
** _you're right  
but i still had to check _

**gduiuightr [14:18]  
** _ominous_

 **adrien [14:19]  
** _it's nothing bad  
i just want to talk about one of my friends  
without you turning into a monster_

 **gduiuightr [14:19]  
** _when have I ever been a monster?_

 **adrien [14:20]  
** _keep your logic away from me, ui  
there's no point giving a fake name  
when you have a spy on me_

 **gduiuightr [14:20]  
** _I didn't plant her there!_

 **adrien [14:21]  
** _sure you didn't  
anyway  
her name's marinette  
and we didn't really get off to a good start_

 **gduiuightr [14:22]  
** _what do you mean by that?_

 **adrien [14:23]  
** _a misunderstanding, i swear  
so since then we've never really  
talked?  
i mean we spend time together  
since our best friends are dating  
and i've been round her house once  
but it's nothing more than that_

 **gduiuightr [14:24]  
** _that sounds like you're reluctant friends_

 **adrien [14:26]  
** _idk until recently she wouldn't even talk to me  
but she's so friendly with everyone else  
and it made me wonder what i did wrong?  
nino told me i'm just being an idiot but  
it's easy to see that she's awkward with me_

 **gduiuightr [14:27]  
** _you're not coming on too strong with her, are you?_

 **adrien [14:29]  
** _idk  
homeschooled means i didn't have many friends  
i just wanted her to like me  
but it didn't really work_

 **gduiuightr [14:29]  
** _paste tense?_

 **adrien [14:31]  
** _ok so  
we talked a bit before school ended  
and she said i could text her?  
but like  
do friends do that_

 **gduiuightr [14:32]  
** _what  
of course friends do that?  
you text nino, don't you?_

 **adrien [14:32]  
** _well, yeah  
but it wasn't so hard with him  
what if i accidentally flirted_

 **gduiuightr [14:32]  
** _...what_

 **adrien [14:33]  
** _what if i accidentally flirted, ui  
how do i get her to know that  
i just want to be friends_

 **gduiuightr [14:34]  
** _well  
why would you go to her house if you weren't friends?_

 **adrien [14:35]  
** _to play a game together  
there wasn't much talking_

 **gduiuightr [14:36]  
** _that sounds like being friends?  
I wouldn't do that with just anyone  
so would she?_

 **adrien [14:36]  
** _silent friends?_

 **gduiuightr [14:38]  
** _you don't have to talk all the time with some friends  
I have some that I don't see outside of class  
and wouldn't want them to just come over to play games  
so she must consider you a friend_

 **adrien [14:39]  
** _are you sure though_

 **gduiuightr [14:39]  
** _I'm pretty sure she knows you're not flirting with her  
you didn't wink at her or anything, did you?_

 **adrien [14:40]  
** _what if i blinked badly_

 **gduiuightr [14:41]  
** _accidental flirting  
accidental winks  
what's next, riri?_

 **adrien [14:41]  
** _not gonna lie  
i fucking laughed at that name_

 **gduiuightr [14:42]  
** _you're not supposed to enjoy it_

 **adrien [14:42]  
** _my bad  
so you think i should reply to her?_

 **gduiuightr [14:43]  
** _she texted you?_

 **adrien [14:43]  
** _yeah  
a few hours ago_

 **gduiuightr [14:45]  
** _if you really want her to know you're not flirting  
apologise for the late reply  
and say you were talking to me or something  
would that make you feel better?_

 **adrien [14:45]  
** _you're a genius_

 **gduiuightr [14:46]  
** _oh, definitely_

 **adrien [14:46]  
** _thanks for helping me make a friend_

 **gduiuightr [14:47]  
** _I didn't do anything?  
you're the one worried about your blinking_

 **adrien [14:47]  
** _i was really anxious, okay  
what if you broke up with me over that_

 **gduiuightr [14:48]  
** _I'm not going to break up with you  
because you winked at another girl_

 **adrien [14:48]  
** _what a relief_

-x-

Adrien started texting her after that.

It was awkward first, and they mostly asked about each other's days and other generic questions, nothing substantial, but it was still more than before. Marinette went as far as to purposely not capitalise anything in her messages, trying to make sure that she wasn't typing the same way that she did usually. Since it meant that she took longer than normal to reply without waiting with nothing to do, she couldn't complain.

There was an attack on the first week of their break.

The information hit the news in record time, and she was alerted that something was wrong due to a notification popping up on her phone—a lot better than in the beginning when she'd either had to hear screams nearby or wonder whether she was blind to an akuma consuming someone far too far away from her. The city had adapted as the time had passed, and even though she and Chat weren't any closer to figuring out who had taken on the moniker of Papillon and caused all the trouble, they were better at ending the fights in record time, at least.

Although Alya prided herself on being the best source of information for Ladybug and Chat Noir—with her website that was straight to the point and named the _Ladyblog—_ it wasn't her that managed to capture an image that piqued their interest.

The black butterflies that infected people were fast. When they were released, it was a matter of time before they landed on someone that was experiencing negative emotions, and it was because of that that rather than stay on the spot and try and see what was happening, civilians had learned to run at the sight of something black-coloured flying at them.

It had caused a bit of havoc with moths, especially with videos that friends took of someone freaking out as a bug flew over them before bursting into laughter at the false alarm.

While the news focused on the disaster that happened, trying to inform the public to stay away from the exact location, there was some blogs that plotted down the locations of each attack, trying to make a map to pinpoint where Papillon was working from. But, with the distance of the whole city as their butterflies were able to fly freely, it meant that it was almost impossible to plot down.

So, some had moved onto trying to take pictures of the butterflies as they searched the city. It was dangerous, yes, and it had resulted in a few of them being infected, and once they'd recovered, they were distraught that they'd dropped their camera at the time of being turned into an akuma (and therefore the damage wasn't reverted—Marinette could only change what happened _after_ the transformation had happened).

But some of them had been able to capture the images. The butterflies didn't look natural; from the particles that seemed to shimmer and float around them before disappearing—much like Tikki had when she phased through walls and such, but it was _exhausting—_ there was a clear distinction between them and normal insects when a clear image was found.

With the break, more attacks came. Whether it was because Papillon had more free time in the summer, it wasn't clear. They'd theorised about their identity before, but there wasn't anything to confirm their guesses. In the end, the start of the summer holiday meant that Marinette saw Chat three times in the first two weeks of the break.

Thankfully, there was no sign of Adrien at the attacks.

Whenever she logged back on when she got home (after lying to her parents and pretending that she stayed in her room the whole time), Adrien was there, asking her how she was, whether she wanted to talk about what had happened to make sure that sh was okay mentally.

"It's not like you can see a therapist," he said on microphone when she questioned why he kept offering. "I mean, you don't really have anyone to talk to, do you?"

Marinette looked towards her kwami for guidance, about whether she could really reveal that secret, and just for a split second, she tried to image trying to explain it to Adrien. Then, struck with the realisation that she was being too impulsive, not protecting anything that was dear to her, she accepted that it wouldn't be possible.

Tikki was even more important than her real identity; if it became public knowledge that she and Chat were in the company of magical beings whenever they weren't transformed, it would've caused more trouble than the mere existence of magical superheroes and villains.

It was still hard to believe that was real, at times.

With the increase of attacks, she and Chat decided that it would be a good idea to meet up in the evening one day of the week, just so they were able to talk about what was happening. It was a bit awkward trying to decide where to go—it wasn't like when they agreed to stubbornly patrol with one of there each night—and they were worried that if they were spotted, the public would panic and think that something bad was happening.

They just had to hope for the best, really.

In the end, a rooftop turned out to be their favoured choice. The sun hadn't quite set, but she would've been spotted during the night due to her suit being primarily coloured red, standing out even when the light of the lamps hit her for a moment as she made her way past.

They'd only had a minute or two to plan their arrangement, as their transformation were about to drop, but Marinette had taken the initiative to use her own money to buy dinner for the two of them before she transformed again. Her parents were under the impression that she'd gone to bed due to a headache (to which she exaggeratedly winced during dinner, hoping they'd understand), and since they woke up each day before dawn to start getting everything ready for their business, it meant that they both went to bed early each day.

Hopefully, neither of them would wake up and check on her—they did that sometimes, when fetching a drink to peer up into her room to tell her that she was staying up too late, and that she needed her sleep to grow big and strong (which had caused her to laugh hysterically after she'd first found out about her developing muscles that wouldn't stop anytime soon).

When Chat arrived, it was only a few minutes after they'd agreed to meet. He jumped onto the rooftop with ease with the help of his staff, not at all injured from the high jump. Sometimes, she wondered when she'd mess up and jump from too high a height and cause her legs to break when she wasn't transformed, but she hadn't done anything worse than trying to vault over fences while playing around.

"Ladybug!" Chat greeted her, grinning happily. His green-coloured sclera stood out on his face as he came to sit beside her.

She reached up to ruffle his hair, not making it any more messy than usual. "Hey, Chat," she replied, fondness clear in her voice. "I almost thought you stood me up there."

"Me?" he said with a gasp, putting a hand over his heart as she went back to keeping her hands to herself. "I'd _never_ , my lady."

A laugh escaped her. "It hasn't even been a minute and you're flirting with me already!"

It was a bit surreal. For all the time they'd been working together, they'd never just sat down to talk—they hadn't had the chance to, not when they only met up when something bad was happening, and just like their patrols that had failed due to not being needed, trying to meet up regularly seemed like it would be a nuisance to explain away in their lives. While she didn't know his real age—or whether he was still in school, or even have a job—she had to wonder whether it would've effected his life negatively.

"Do you have a problem with that?" He batted his eyelashes at her.

It had been strange in the beginning to notice that their masks changed to fit their faces at all times, meaning that when they blinked, their eyelids weren't shown as it stretched without showing any tears or strain, it wasn't that odd to see any more, not after seeing it countless times.

Then again, seeing someone unironically in a cat-themed superhero suit was just as odd.

"Well, for one, I don't even know if you're legal," she pointed out, swatting his hand when he tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders (surely to bring her into a one-armed hug, a favourite of his. "I'm definitely not, and I think breaking laws is something superheroes _shouldn't_ do."

He stared before bursting into laughter. "That's—that's your only complaint?"

"It's the most important." She sniffed, raising her chin haughtily in the air. "Are you saying you're above the law, Chat Noir?"

There was no pause as he instantly replied, "Considering I was wanted for theft before, no."

She rolled her eyes. "That wasn't even you, it doesn't count."

"Fine." He ran a hand through his hair, not able to knock the ears that were magically fixed onto the top of his head out of place. "If it makes you feel better, I'm only fifteen."

It was a confession that shouldn't have happened. Marinette didn't need to know that about him, not when they were protecting each other by not divulging the details. She gaped openly, surprise clear across her expression that he'd told her that at all, and from the way that he averted his eyes as his gloved hand touched the nape of his neck—a self-conscious move that she barely saw when they were fighting—it was clear that he was uncertain about whether he'd messed up or not.

But it wasn't that bad, surely. She didn't know his birthday, nor anything else about him; even if she was to be turned into an akuma, there were countless fifteen-year-olds in the city, and no one would be able to just _look_ at yearbooks from schools, see his picture and immediately identify him as Chat Noir.

It didn't work like that.

She wetted her lips.

"I'm fourteen," Marinette admitted quietly.

It was his turn to look at her in surprise.

Chat's lips were silently parted for a moment before he closed his mouth, visibly swallowing. "You're—really?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, feeling a bit shy from confessing it. Neglecting to add on that her birthday was that month wasn't because she didn't trust him, but because it was too much to give—being vague was for the best. "It's nice to know that you're pretty close to me."

The choked laugh that escaped him was infectious.

Once they'd recovered, Marinette gestured to the plastic bag beside her, admitting that she'd bought dinner before she arrived. It came as a surprise to him, clearly, before he grinned widely, happily accepting the takeaway containers that she took out, along with the plastic cutlery that she'd had the foresight to bring along with her plan.

"I had to guess on what you'd like," she said with a shrug when Chat made appreciative noises when the food was revealed. "I hope it's okay."

He nodded enthusiastically. "It's more than okay, Bug."

"Great." She smiled, pleased that it had worked out.

The conversation flowed naturally, as easy as when they were working together and trying to focus on causing as little damage as possible. It was nice to know that their ease with each other translated into easy-going conversation when they were alone, and she was more than happy to shit cross-legged beside him, their knees touched as she looked over the edge of the building to see the ground all the floors down below.

"I was kind of afraid of heights in the beginning," Marinette off-handedly said after she'd swallowed a mouthful. "What about you?"

Chat gestured to his mouth, indicating that he was still chewing, before he replied, "Oh, same. I was never actually able to go on the big rides when I was younger, so I'd never really been exposed to heights before we started this—well, other than walking up a load of flights of stairs."

She nodded in agreement. "I used to pretend I was feeling sick so I wouldn't have to go on the big ones when was with friends. It didn't take long before they realised what I was doing, sadly."

He covered his mouth with his hand when he laughed. "Cute."

She stuck her tongue out childishly.

They were acting their age, for once, not worrying about the repercussions of their actions for that evening. Marinette was already out past when her parents were in bed, with someone that neither of her parents knew beforehand—something she always had to tell, even if it was just to walk to school with them—but she didn't feel a smidgen of guilt.

When they finally got to the serious topics, the food was long gone. Marinette was leaning back against the rooftop, not feeling discomfort from the flat surface, and Chat was on his stomach beside her, resting his head on his hands, elbows against the floor. It was a position that was more much suited for a bed, but he seemed perfectly content, even kicking his legs in the air idly.

With her bandalore out, Marinette opened it, bringing out the screen that could access the internet, among other things. As useful as it was with the map, including the dot that indicated where Chat was when he was transformed, the internet was definitely one of the perks that they could use at times (Chat's staff acted much the same with a screen appearing in the middle, but she imagined hers was easier to use due to the shape of it).

They looked at a few of the most recent pictures that had been taken of the butterflies mid-flight, wondering aloud on the possibilities.

"So," he started, tilting his head to the side so he could look at her fully. "What do you think we should do?"

There wasn't much they could. They had lives still, despite what some people thought of them, and they couldn't miss all their obligations to patrol the city, trying to find Papillon in their lair (and that was even if they _had_ one).

"Follow the damn butterflies," she muttered, a little bitter that that phrase had been used repeatedly on the internet, addressed to them. "Even if we politely ask to see surveillance footage, it's highly unlikely that we'd be able to pinpoint where they're coming from."

He nodded.

Reaching up and pushing her fringe off of her face, Marinette said in frustration, "It's not like we'll be able to see where they even go. They can probably phase through walls, right?"

"I don't know about that," Chat mused, sounding as though they were talking about the weather. "I've never actually seen one do that, and I've been there in person a few times when someone's been targeted."

She groaned. "Okay, so phasing is only a maybe. That's really helpful."

"Maybe," he shrugged, almost losing his balance. "Let's just go with the assumption that the only time they go inside a building is to target someone, and that they just fly around outside, okay?"

It was the best they could do for the time being. "Until it's disproven," Marinette grumbled, thinking of the work that would have to go into it. "We can't really share this with anyone unless we want to actually encourage illegally exploring buildings."

Chat hummed, drawing out the sound. "We could talk to someone to help us out, though."

"Oh?" she queried, raising her eyebrows at him, even though they were hidden all the time by her mask. She knew, however, that her brow raised and the mask extended naturally. "And what's your bright idea there? If we ask the police to help, they'll probably take offence to us asking them not to get involved any further."

"That's very true," he agreed, surely thinking of all the times they'd tried to warn off the officers when the destruction had gotten bad. "You remember Alya, right?"

Marinette was aware that she'd stiffened. "Yes?" she replied cautiously before realising that she needed to expand on that. "The owner of the _Ladyblog_?"

"She's good at collecting information," Chat continued, showing no indication that he'd caught her reaction. "She has one of the best maps that shows where all the attacks have been. I'm sure if we asked, she'd help us keep a collection of images."

It was something Alya would do, definitely. In the past, whenever they'd asked Alya for a favour, either as just Ladybug or Chat Noir, or the two of them together, Alya had been more than agreeable to work together with them.

However, as her best friend, Marinette couldn't help but point out, "But she really would be encouraged to run into danger if we ask that of her. She'd want to confirm any suspicions that she gets—there's no way I'm okay with asking her for help."

With a sigh, Chat visibly deflated. "Fine," he said, drawing out the last vowel. "I wouldn't trust any other reporters not to actually publish the information we want, and there's no way we'll be able to find all the images. My life's already hectic enough as it is."

She reached over and patted the top of his head. "There, there," she cooed, making sure to deliberately ruffle his hair in the process. "I'm sure we'll think of something in the end."

"Something that doesn't include wrangling teenagers into doing our dirty work for us."

"Careful what you say," she replied through her snickers. "You almost sound like you should be arrested."

He shoved her lightly.

-x-

Her birthday came with a surprise.

As she didn't have plans, Marinette had stayed in her bed for longer than necessary, and since she'd taken up some food the night before, she didn't need to get out to fetch Tikki something to eat. Instead, she stayed in her pyjamas and scrolled on her phone, debating whether to turn on her computer to talk to Adrien as Ui, before deciding to just spend her time with her kwami.

It helped that the two of them had similar taste in television shows and silly videos that they found online. Sometimes, when she was really entertained, she showed the videos that Adrien had sent to her to Tikki, and Tikki would just laugh, hard enough that her body shook from side-to-side, and the sight was so adorable that Marinette's grin would stretch until it reached her eyes that were looking at her fondly.

Being Ladybug wouldn't have been the same without Tikki. She wondered about Chat's kwami at times, but bringing it up in conversation wasn't something they did often. Then again, until two weeks prior, meeting up together to talk wasn't on their agenda.

After the first night, they'd decided that it was a good idea. They set aside one evening at the weekend—to which Marinette admitted that her parents went to bed early, so she would be able to sneak out without any problems—to try and scour the internet and find any of the pictures that would help them with clues, and Chat had volunteered to bring along food for their dinner, as long as she remembered to bring a notepad so she could write everything down.

It was smarter than keeping the information on her weapon, unable to be accessed when she wasn't transformed.

Her birthday was the day after she'd stayed up past midnight with Chat on top of a building, glad that they weren't able to feel the chill in the breeze due to their suits.

It was when she wanted a drink that she finally started to move.

With her pyjamas still on—shorts that were almost too loose and probably needed to be thrown out soon, and an oversized t-shirt—Marinette padded down the stairs, one hand in her hair, fiddling with her messy ponytail as she yawned.

The loud popping sound that went off was followed by confetti appearing in her face, and Marinette spluttered and stumbled back, an exclamation of surprise escaping her as her backside connected with the stairs uncomfortably.

She gazed wide-eyed at the sight of most of her class in her living room.

From the mix of amused grins and some concerned faces at her reaction, she just stared as they shouted happy birthday at her. Her parents were nowhere to be seen, but they'd come up into her room earlier to congratulate her, kissing her forehead before going back downstairs to their store, but she had no doubt that it was probably their doing that so many people were in their home.

Alya was the one to step forward and offer her a hand to lift her up.

"Hey, girl," Alya greeted, smiling widely. "We were wondering whether you'd ever appear. I never knew you were so lazy."

She was absolutely aware that she wasn't wearing a brassiere.

An awkward laugh escaped her. "I—yeah," Marinette said lamely, accepting the offer for help to stand up she smoothed her shirt out. "I'm just... I'm gonna go get dressed, okay?"

Before they could answer, Marinette held onto Alya's hand and tugged her upstairs with her, closing the door behind the two of them with a sigh of relief.

"This is absolutely your doing," she accused when she turned to look at her friend.

Alya didn't even try to hide her amusement. "I know you're not a big fan of surprises—"

"This doesn't even count as a surprise!" Marinette retorted, throwing her hands up in the air to emphasise her points. "I only wanted a drink, not to be fucking terrified of confetti going off in my face."

"In my defence, I did suggest not shooting them at you," Alya said with a half-hearted shrug. "It's not every day we get to celebrate a birthday, you know? And it's been a while since everyone's seen you, too. Maybe they got a bit excited."

Running a hand through her hair, she just stared as glittery flecks fell down onto the floor. "This is a surprise party, isn't it?"

"Well, I don't think we could class it as anything else?"

She groaned, sitting down on the pink-coloured sofa that she had in her room, which was mostly used by Tikki when she was lounging around and enjoying the peace. "I can't believe you."

"Cheer up," Alya replied happily, sitting down beside her and bumping their shoulders together. "If this happened last year, you'd be freaking out more because Adrien saw you without a bra on."

A bit horrified, she covered her chest with her arms. "You can _tell_?"

Alya positively cackled. "It's fine, Mari. I doubt anyone was even looking at your chest. I only realised when we got into your room."

"Yes, that absolutely makes me feel better." She sniffed. "Please, tell me you haven't got a piñata or anything down there."

With a wide grin, Alya pushed her spectacles further up her nose as she replied, "Your parents gave us the no for that, sadly."

Once she'd gotten dressed and gone downstairs again, making sure to close her bedroom door to try and deter anyone from entering without her, she had a nice time. Although her home wasn't that wide—it was tall instead—it was still a bit of a hard fit for everyone to be comfortable in her living room and kitchen. With drinks and food passed between all of them, music on quietly throughout, so they wouldn't disturb the business on the floor below, there wasn't a shortage of conversation between them all.

The nicest surprise was that while her messages with Adrien had been awkward at first, the wide smile that appeared on him when she walked over to say hello made her grin right back. He was enthusiastic when they talked, even when they were alone for a few minutes, and Marinette didn't have to edit herself (like she had to when they were texting).

He'd only met her as Ui once out of her transformation, so it wasn't as though he'd know her quirks.

When pictures were being taken, particularly when she had to blow out the candles on her obnoxiously-decorated cake, Marinette didn't think much of it. She didn't flinch when Adrien wrapped an arm around her shoulder as he asked to take a picture with her, and she didn't stay around to see the result before someone else called for her attention.

Afterwards, when most had left—with Adrien being one of the first—she had a few friends staying over for the night. The air mattress had already been inflated on her bedroom floor, the couch pushed aside to make room for it, and Marinette took her chance when they were all watching a film to excuse herself upstairs for a moment.

Quickly, she logged online with the intention to apologise to Adrien for being busy for the day, even though she knew that he'd been busy, too, but she'd spied him on his phone a few times to suspect that he'd been sending messages to her.

It turned out she was right.

Along with his messages, Adrien had included one of the pictures that they'd taken together a few hours ago.

 **adrien [19:07]**

 _here's my friend_

 _who definitely knows i'm taken_

 _please don't murder her_

She was still laughing when her bedroom door opened.

Marinette jumped, hitting the close button before exiting the program, knowing that her fast reaction definitely looked suspicious, but, luckily, Alya was too busy routing through her bag that she'd left there earlier to pay any attention to her.

Still, it was too close for her liking.

The following day, after everyone had slowly left throughout the afternoon, Marinette was greeted with the same picture of her and Adrien being sent to her again. This time, it was actually for her as Marinette, and he'd included a lot of emojis in his text, stating that he thought she'd want the picture since it had turned out well.

She definitely did.

It joined the others she'd taken with him as Ui, from the amusement park, within a folder that was on her computer. After their date, she'd transferred them over to her computer, deleting them from her phone so they wouldn't be seen by chance, and she was smart enough not to leave the folder on her desktop for anyone to see either.

Sometimes, it felt like she wasn't putting in enough effort to hide everything. It wasn't as though she could hide all the evidence under her bed—not when it was a bunkbed without the second bed underneath—and she doubted that she'd be able to keep her reactions to Adrien unnoticeable forever.

Laughing to herself whenever he did something endearing should've been a giveaway.

When they chatted with her as Ui, he was open enough to express his happiness that he'd found a friend in Marinette. It was a bit odd hearing about herself from him, almost as weird as it had been in class to hear about Ui, but she supposed that she'd gotten more experienced in acting because of it. It barely shocked her any more when she had to consider herself three separate people—to be Marinette, Ui, and Ladybug when it time called for it—and it was a wonder that she wasn't having some sort of crisis trying to keep it all from falling apart.

It helped that she started to see Chat regularly.

He _understood_. Sure, she didn't tell him that she was dating someone or that she'd turned fifteen—and Adrien didn't even know that about her—but it was fine. Chat understood that they needed to have their normal lives not interfere with when they were working, that they couldn't be familiar with those that they were with for most days, and it was refreshing to talk to someone that could understand (more than Tikki could).

"It's like—I don't know, really," Marinette cut herself off, brow furrowed as she took a sip from the drink that Chat had bought for her. "I used to be so self-conscious? But now I just look at something that should probably be impossible and think it'll be fine."

He snorted. "A test doesn't really compare to akumas."

"It's more than that!" she insisted with a laugh. "I'm a lot more confident with myself now, I guess. It's hard to think I'm lame when we're able to do all of this."

He batted his eyelashes. "Does that mean you think I'm cool?"

"Maybe," Marinette replied, trying to keep a straight face. "I'll be able to give you a definite answer whenever I see you in casual clothing. It's almost hard to imagine."

"I'm hurt." He sniffed dramatically. "I'm only cool if I have good clothing? That's so mean, Ladybug."

Bumping her shoulder lightly against his, Marinette stated, "Someday, I'm going to end up with broken bones because I have no sense of danger any more."

Chat laughed. "As long as you let me be the first to write on your cast, I'll still love you."

It was just how they were; the half-hearted flirting at the worst times, particularly when they were in the middle of a fight, and just generally comfortable with each other. Marinette had no problem eating messily beside him, not worried about her image—she didn't need to try and impress him, and she certainly had no want to do so. Chat was a close friend for, even more so after they'd started to meet up.

But she understood why they were viewed differently from the outside.

It made her wonder whether Adrien also thought that way.

 **gduiuightr [15:49]  
** _so you know I've been  
busy the past few weekends?_

 **adrien [15:50]  
** _yeah?  
you're not gonna confess to being a murderer are you  
i'm too young to be dating a criminal_

 **gduiuightr [15:52]  
** _let's just ignore you said that  
I haven't been entirely honest with you_

 **adrien [15:53]  
** _still getting the serial killer vibes, ui  
try and tone it down a bit_

 **gduiuightr [15:53]  
** _ignoring you entirely now_

 **adrien [15:54]  
** _i'm sorry!  
please don't neglect me  
i need attention to live_

 **gduiuightr [15:54]  
** _you can get attention elsewhere_

 **adrien [15:54]  
** _from you  
i'll die without you_

 **gduiuightr [15:55]  
** _gonna buy some nice flowers for your grave  
see you soon_

 **adrien [15:55]  
** _please don't  
i'm not allowed to play in the dirt_

 **gduiuightr [15:56]  
** _you'll be dead  
not playing_

 **adrien [15:56]  
** _you fool  
rolling in my grave counts as playing_

 **gduiuightr [15:57]  
** _and why would you be rolling?_

 **adrien [15:57]  
** _because you won't tell me this top secret information  
stop holding out on me_

 **gduiuightr [15:58]  
** _you're terrible  
but fine, I did say I was going to_

 **adrien [15:58]  
** _go on_

 **gduiuightr [15:58]  
** _I'm getting there  
you're so impatient_

 **adrien [15:59]  
** _love me_

 **gduiuightr [15:59]  
** _be quiet  
anyway!  
i've been meeting up with chat_

 **adrien [16:01]  
** _with no akumas?_

 **gduiuightr [16:02]  
** _exactly  
we've never really done that before?  
we both thought it was about time, so  
we kinda just eat dinner together and talk about stuff  
it's nice_

 **adrien [16:04]  
** _i'm heartbroken_

 **gduiuightr [16:04]  
** _what_

 **adrien [16:05]  
** _you never come to visit me with food_

 **gduiuightr [16:05]  
** _I'm not climbing in your window  
this isn't some romance novel  
that's weird_

 **adrien [16:06]  
** _what if I invited you first?_

 **gduiuightr [16:06]  
** _absolutely not  
what if someone sees me?_

 **adrien [16:07]  
** _then i'll say it was a joke_

 **gduiuightr [16:07]  
** _ladybug scaling your house to get into your room  
just a joke?_

 **adrien [16:08]  
** _stripper gone wrong_

 **gduiuightr [16:08]  
** _you're underaged_

 **adrien [16:09]  
** _and so are you  
we're perfect together_

 **gduiuightr [16:10]  
** _as important as age is in a relationship  
I'm not pretending to be an illegal stripper  
I'll be caught on your security cameras in seconds_

 **adrien [16:11]  
** _ui  
i can delete the tapes  
why do you think i haven't been caught sneaking out?_

 **gduiuightr [16:12]  
** _wait  
what_

 **adrien [16:13]  
** _no one checks them until the day after  
unless the alarm goes off  
i'm not a complete idiot!_

 **gduiuightr [16:15]  
** _I don't know whether to be impressed  
or terrified that you thought about that_

 **adrien [16:16]  
** _i'm living  
my girlfriend's finally impressed by me_

 **gduiuightr [16:16]  
** _what do you mean finally?_

 **adrien [16:17]  
** _i can't see you swooning to prove otherwise  
sorry_

 **gduiuightr [16:17]  
** _I'm impressed by how dumb you are._

 **adrien [16:18]  
** _even with the dot!  
my heart can't handle all this love_

 **gduiuightr [16:18]  
** _dork_

 **adrien [16:20]  
** _i was told that being open about my dorkiness  
would make you like me_

 **gduiuightr [16:21]  
** _you're not wrong_

 **adrien [16:21]  
** _perfect_

 **gduiuightr [16:22]  
** _you're distracting me again!  
I wanted to ask you something_

 **adrien [16:22]  
** _you don't need permission, ui_

 **gduiuightr [16:23]  
** _sorry, I feel really awkward  
you do know there's nothing between me and chat, right?_

 **adrien [16:23]  
** _oh  
that came out of nowhere?_

 **gduiuightr [16:24]  
** _please answer and reassure me  
you never said if you're the jealous type_

 **adrien [16:25]  
** _terribly jealous  
i'm actually a monster_

 **gduiuightr [16:25]  
** _please_

 **adrien [16:27]  
** _okok i'll be serious  
i do know that now!  
but i can see why people think otherwise?  
i kinda thought that you might eventually have something with him  
but i'm pretty sure you wouldn't bother  
doing all this with me if you didn't like me?_

 **gduiuightr [16:29]  
** _if I didn't like you, I wouldn't have confessed  
in the worst way possible_

 **adrien [16:30]  
** _exactly  
also i don't have any say in who you meet?  
i mean  
it's your life, ui  
i'm just happy that you want me in it_

 **gduiuightr [16:32]  
** _you're gonna make me cry_

 **adrien [16:33]  
** _tears of joy from how romantic i am?_

 **gduiuightr [16:34]  
** _i'm just really happy that i know you  
that's all  
you're a lot better than the adrien i thought i knew  
from hearing about you, I mean_

 **adrien [16:35]  
** _you're even better in person_

 **gduiuightr [16:35]  
** _you've met me like twice_

 **adrien [16:37]  
** _not like that!  
actually knowing you  
no one's really able to get to know you  
when you're busy saving all of us  
and i can definitely say that they're missing out_

 **gduiuightr [16:39]  
** _i'm even closer to crying now?_

 **adrien [16:41]  
** _i'm serious!  
you're like  
so sweet that i think you're unreal sometimes?  
you put up with me whining about my family  
when you can't do the same_

 **gduiuightr [16:43]  
** _you don't whine  
well  
you do sometimes when I can hear you  
but that's usually when you're too lazy to go to bed_

 **adrien [16:45]  
** _but i'm normally in bed talking to you  
it's whining because i don't want to leave you_

 **gduiuightr [16:46]  
** _I'll still be here the next day!_

 **adrien [16:48]  
** _that doesn't mean i don't want to spend  
as much time as possible with you?  
you're literally the best part of my day  
and i haven't heard your voice for what seems to be weeks  
the last time was on the news_

 **gduiuightr [16:51]  
** _I'm sorry I can't call you or anything_

 **adrien [16:54]  
** _you don't have to apologise for being responsible  
i'm just trying to say that  
i sometimes look up your interviews online to listen to them?  
i hope that's not creepy  
then again, nothing beats your weird ass confession_

 **gduiuightr [16:55]  
** _excuse you  
my spy's the creepy part_

 **adrien [16:55]  
** _that's true_

 **gduiuightr [16:57]  
** _I  
might've bought the last magazine that had your picture in it  
it's not cut out and put in a frame or anything  
I'm not that weird_

 **adrien [17:00]  
** _make a shrine of me_

 **gduiuightr [17:03]  
** _no!  
I was considering making a scrapbook  
but then it really might look like I'm a stalker?_

 **adrien [17:04]  
** _that's only if you get found out_

 **gduiuightr [17:05]  
** _it would be super awkward if someone found it_

 **adrien [17:05]  
** _live life on the edge, ui  
i believe in you_

 **gduiuightr [17:06]  
** _maybe I'll just hide it under my bed_

 **adrien [17:06]  
** _isn't that where porn is usually kept in films?  
it'll just fall out when someone helps you change your bed  
tragic_

 **gduiuightr [17:07]  
** _I'm not even gonna answer that  
but  
thank you for earlier_

 **adrien [17:07]  
** _you're welcome?  
not sure what i really did  
but i'll take it_

 **gduiuightr [17:09]  
** _you're a really good friend_

 **adrien [17:10]  
** _did you just friendzone me?  
i'm your boyfriend_

 **gduiuightr [17:10]  
** _it still has friend in it!_

 **adrien [17:11]  
** _it's too late  
i'm crying  
first you bring someone else dinner  
now you're rejecting me_

 **gduiuightr [17:12]  
** _adrien  
you're also a really good boyfriend_

 **adrien [17:12]  
** _really?_

 **gduiuightr [17:13]  
** _...you got over your crying quickly_

 **adrien [17:13]  
** _they're tears of joy now  
tell me more about my good deeds_

 **gduiuightr [17:14]  
** _I'm not feeding your ego any more_

 **adrien [17:14]  
** _but i'm so hungry_

 **gduiuightr [17:14]  
** _no._

-x-

As much as she wanted to meet up with Adrien, neither of them could think of a good place that they could visit where they could blend in. Always using the face paint would've made them stand out, especially if it wasn't at an amusement park or a fair, and there was still the chance that either of them would be recognised.

Before they want back to school, the last time she saw Adrien wasn't as Ui.

They'd become friends normally, yes, but that didn't mean that she'd suggested playing together online; she'd already created new accounts, or simply changed the name so it wouldn't recognisable, on games beforehand to play with him, and she wasn't up for doing that again. So, even though he'd come over to her house once to use her console, she just said she wasn't too interested in that any more.

It was a small lie compared to everyone else.

Besides, the two of them played regularly whenever they could. They'd shared techniques and styled some of their armours to look similar, and she very much doubted that she'd remember to edit her typing if they were in game together—though, she supposed that she could finally use the microphone that she'd unplugged.

Adrien was the one to suggest their outing.

After a few weeks of pestering, of which she'd known all about due to him telling her as Ui, Adrien was overjoyed when he finally got permission to go to the cinema with her, Nino, and Alya.

The four of them were all smiles when they met up. When Nino and Alya decided to ignore them and kiss while they were waiting outside, since they'd arrived a bit too early, Adrien just leaned on the wall beside her, his hands in his pockets, and brought up a random topic without starting with the awkward small talk that they used to always have.

She smiled brightly.

If she'd been Ui—which probably equated to only wearing a horrendous costume around him—she would've tried to hold his hand while the film was playing, and done a lot more than just sharing snacks between them. Still, it was an enjoyable experience, and Adrien's exclamation of wanting to do that again was whole-heartedly agreed upon by all of them.

Later, when she'd logged onto her computer and signed on to see whether Adrien had sent anything while she was away, Marinette laughed when she saw that he'd sent pictures to her that he'd taken from earlier that day. It was clear from his typing that he was excited, and he'd typed out what he considered the best parts of the day to try and keep her up to date with his life.

 **adrien [19:29]  
** _i wish you were there!  
we'd be able to go to the cinema together, right?_

 **gduiuightr [19:31]  
** _only if it's one of the ones  
where people dress up as the characters_

 **adrien [19:34]  
** _we could be the only ones  
that's fine with me  
that's dedication_

 **gduiuightr [19:34]  
** _how many will have masked characters?_

 **adrien [19:35]**  
 _crossing my fingers for a masquerade film  
coming out soon  
please_

 **gduiuightr [19:36] _  
_** _I doubt any will be in our age rating_

 **adrien [19:37]  
** _you take that back!_

When school started again, they spoke less during the day—well, Marinette did, while Adrien continued to message her throughout, including little highlights of what was happening while saying that he missed it.

It made her cheeks feel warm.

Although they hadn't met up for almost four months, the length that they'd been dating, she didn't feel like they were missing out on much. They spoke daily, for hours on end before reluctantly going to bed, and she probably messaged him more in one day than any of her other friends for an entire week.

Some of her class-mates had gotten more tanned over the summer, others had started dating or broken up, and there seemed to be no limit to the rumours or gossip that appeared from their break. Marinette rolled her eyes at a few of them, finding others amusing, and she was more than happy to just say that she spent most of her time inside whenever someone asked her what she spent her time doing.

Adrien was turning around in his seat to talk to her more often, and he was scolded by their teachers almost daily for being too obvious about it. There was only so many times that he could smile at them to try and get out of detention.

The worst day, according to him, was when his phone was confiscated because he'd been busy typing on it while they were waiting for their teacher to appear. It was given back to him at the end of the day, but it still caused him to send a string of crying emojis to her later on, apologising for not being able to talk to her throughout the day.

 **gduiuightr [17:18]  
** _it's fine!  
it's not like I can even reply to you?_

 **adrien [17:20]  
** _still  
i like sharing my day with you  
it's like i'm leaving romantic notes_

 **gduiuightr [17:21]  
** _the last thing you said before you got caught  
was that maths makes you suicidal_

 **adrien [17:21]  
** _can't you feel the romance?_

When they were allowed to pick their own partners for a project, she almost choked when Adrien immediately turned to her with a smile.

"Now we have a reason to meet up," he said, leaning back in his chair happily, dangerously close to losing his balance. "There's no way I'll get a no for this."

For a moment, she assumed that he'd meant a reason for her to finally start making plans with him, before it became clear that he was referring to his father. Although he hadn't popped up in conversation often, the time where he'd sobbed over his mother during their call was still fresh in her memory, and she'd made sure to be open with him about when she was feeling upset in return.

She hadn't been ashamed to say that she'd cried the other week while reading a comic.

"Sure," Marinette agreed, tucking some stray hairs behind her ear. "Any idea when you'll be able to meet up?"

Adrien beamed. "Not at the weekends, sadly."

There hadn't been a moment of hesitation. "Oh?"

"I—yeah," he confirmed, faltering a bit as he returned to sitting normally, averting his eyes as he touched the nape of his neck. "I try and spend as much time with Ui then."

It wasn't a lie, but it was still a surprise that he'd be so open about his want to not spending his weekends with anyone else. She shifted in her seat, trying hard not to show the happiness from his answer on her face—it was silly, really, but when their interactions were so limited from his point of view, knowing that he valued them so much really made it hard not to find him endearing.

"Okay," she said, nodding her head. There was only one foreseeable option that they had that wouldn't have them in a public library. "We could try see whether you can come round mine for dinner? Since I doubt I'll be able to go to yours."

His smiled returned. "That'll be great."

"Okay," Marinette repeated with more conviction. "This'll be fun."

It wasn't.

Well, being with Adrien was, but the subject matter made her want to pull her hair out in frustration. While she was generally good with most subjects, able to be among the top percentage of their class, there was some that had her stumped with where the answers came from at all. Tikki, being ever-patient and kind, usually sat with her and tried to explain them, and Marinette ended up lamenting that she was being put to shame by a magical being that had never been to school before (to which she got the reply that Tikki _did_ go to school with her—she just stayed hidden the entire time).

Adrien's father had given the okay for him to go over for dinner at her house once a week until their got their projects done. It required the two of them to get a lift back to hers from his driver, and then Adrien checking in every few hours, to assure his father—or whoever he was messaging—that he was okay, along with making sure that the food met his dietary requirements.

"I'm not even allergic to any foods," Adrien moaned once they'd climbed the stairs into her bedroom, after she'd reminded him that their dinner had been catered to him. "It's not like one cheat day is going to make a difference to my body."

She knew that he was really saying that out of frustration from not being allowed to gorge on whatever he wanted with his friends. Adrien's father didn't starve him—nothing of the sort—but instead had him on a healthy diet that was supposed to be accompanied by a healthy amount of sleep (which wasn't met often, not with how long he tended to stay online).

"One day?" Marinette enquired, facing him with raised eyebrows. "I'm absolutely terrible at this subject, Adrien. We're definitely going to need at least three weeks on this."

He paused. "What?"

"You really don't think I'd let you do all the work, do you?" she questioned, not at all feeling as nervous as she'd been before when he walked into her room. She knew that the messenger had been signed out of, hidden from the desktop, and there was nothing to link her to being Ui. "I'm not the best, but I'm still going to try."

"Oh," he said, and it came out softly. "That means more dinners here, then."

It meant less dinners which he spent staring awkwardly at his father, too. "Yes," she confirmed with a nod. "Unless you want to cry in an uncomfortable chair in the library? I'd much prefer to keep my suffering to my bedroom, thank you."

His smile showed his teeth. "I'm fine with that."

"As you should be," she replied, tossing some of her hair over her shoulder. "Now you won't have to resort to sneaking out to escape your home for a bit."

An abrupt laugh left him. "I haven't done that for ages!"

She hummed, looking at him in suspicion. "I'm sure."

"That hurts, Marinette," Adrien said through his laughter, happily settling himself down on her sofa. "This partnership isn't going to work unless there's trust between us."

Without any hesitation, she responded, "I trust you."

He blinked. "Really?"

"We're friends, aren't we?" Marinette answered, tilting her head slightly to the side. "Still, I wouldn't trust you to catch me if we ever have to do those trust exercises. You don't look very strong."

Adrien narrowed his eyes. "I don't know whether to take that as an insult or not."

"Who knows?" She shrugged. "It's not like anyone can tell when you always prefer to wear sleeves. It makes me wonder whether you've got a secret tattoo that don't want anyone see."

Deliberately, he fiddled with the end of one of his sleeves. "Wouldn't you have seen it in my photoshoots?"

"Make-up does wonders," she replied. "Shouldn't your first answer have been pointing out that you're underaged? There's no way anyone would give you a tattoo."

He just grinned. "Maybe it's one of those temporary ones that you stick on with water."

"That would require a _lot_ of dedication to keep up."

Running a hand through his hair, Adrien proclaimed, "Maybe I like to dress up like a rebellious teenager when I sneak out—you know, wearing all black with fake tattoos."

Marinette tried to keep a straight face as she slowly said, "...I'm not sure your informations right."

"Probably not," he admitted with a laugh. "But seeing me all in black with fake tattoos would really make someone second guess it's me, right?"

The laughter that escaped her was loud and abrupt, not able to be contained. It was just—it was so _Adrien_ to try and say that such a disguise would work. He'd proposed worse things in the past, but she'd never actually seen him face-to-face when he'd suggested them.

"No," she choked out, reaching up to wipe her damp eyes. "It really wouldn't, Adrien."

Her laughter came back as she heard him mutter, "Damn."

-x-

Marinette felt sick.

The house she was going to was a familiar one, but that didn't make her feel comfortable—if anything, the sight of it had the opposite effect. She wasn't going to walk through it as she normally would, nor would she be greeted with the same smiles or hugs from those that were happy to see her.

There was no school bag that she'd put down beside the couch as she sat down, nor would she greet Nino's parents with a confident smile from having seen them once or twice a year over the past decade. Instead of all of that, she was passing through as a stranger to all but one.

And that was terrifying. She was expecting the worst type of response, and that was just because of her anxiety. While being more confident with herself had been a gradual thing, it was something else entirely to meet the people that she saw on a regular basis as someone else. It was nerve-wracking, really.

In theory, she knew that her class-mates wouldn't snub her or be openly rude, but it was still a scary thought.

She shouldn't have agreed to come. It was a dumb choice, truly, but she hadn't met up with Adrien for as long as five months, almost six. He'd begged and pleaded for her to attend his friend's party, proclaiming it to be entirely safe due to to the mandatory costumes. In his eyes, it wouldn't be dangerous since no one would think twice about her having an elaborate disguise.

"You'll be unrecognisable," Adrien insisted, smile clear in his voice after she'd tentatively said that she was coming. "I bet your friend won't even be able to tell."

She didn't have the heart to tell him how wrong he was.

Still, rejecting him was hard, almost as scary as meeting his friends would've been. It was the prospect of actually seeing him that had her paranoid, wondering about all the worst things that could've happened, but eventually, she decided that if Adrien hadn't been able to tell who she was when she'd only had face paint smeared over her and unfamiliar clothes on, then there was a chance that her class-mates would have the same reaction.

She'd worked up to her excuse the entire week after agreeing to it. Adrien had been overjoyed that he'd gotten the okay, and he was more than ready to use the excuse that she was visiting with her aunt (Nami, who hated to be referred to as Nams, he'd decided).

Marinette faked feeling sick halfway through the week.

It wasn't too hard, surprisingly. Marinette didn't take sick days off regularly, since her family was usually too busy downstairs to run to the school to collect her, and then care for her, and she completely understood that. That was why she reluctantly went to school whenever the illness wasn't too bad, only agreeing to stay off if she wouldn't stop sneezing, coughing, or if it was any worse.

The nurse accepted her excuse of not feeling well for the second day, and she had to sit on the bed in the nurse's office for a while, while they waited to see whether she felt better. Marinette considered packing something she hated in her lunch, just so she could really feel gross, but she wasn't that desperate to try and convince anyone.

On the last day, she'd purposely stayed up too late, so when she trudged downstairs for breakfast, she got worried glances. With a kiss to her forehead, and a lie that she'd been sick when she went to the bathroom, Marinette was given the okay to stay home for the day.

She kept it up for the entire day, knowing full way that she needed to look a bit disappointed that she couldn't go to Nino's party, as she'd already gotten permission to attend that evening. However, since they didn't visit her bedroom often, they didn't know that she'd already completed her costume, or that it was sitting in her wardrobe, waiting for her to put it on later that night.

It made her feel guilty for lying to them, but it was a lot better than showing off the costume that she was proud of altering, only for them to see pictures later on and know that it was her.

For all they knew, she would be sleeping in bed at the same time as them. It was lucky that she didn't have security cameras to catch everything that was going on—other than for the front of the store—like Adrien did. Then again, he'd gotten adept at going through the footage to get rid of his crimes.

Most that were attending Nino's party had arrived almost an hour earlier, but Marinette had already sent an instant message to Adrien, explaining that she'd be late due to having to sneak out (he just wished her luck at that, to which she replied that she'd gotten tips from the best—meaning him).

With her cell phone on silent, the case swapped to the one she'd used with Adrien before, the background picture changed to the ones they'd taken together at the amusement park, and the bag that she was using to hold her belongings—along with her her kwami—being one she hadn't worn to school, there wasn't much that would give away her items for being hers.

Adrien had insisted on having matching costumes, and his solution for hiding her identity was to be over-the-top. From the white face paint that was smeared over her face, hands, and her knees that were visible, to the messy hair and the extensions that she'd clipped in, making the length appear to be longer that it usually was, one of the finishing touches to her face was to put in brown-coloured contact lenses that she'd ordered online.

She blinked rapidly when they were put in, then marvelled at the mirror, admiring that they almost looked like her mother's colour.

The school uniform had also been ordered online, and the skirt reached just above her knees, the previously pristine socks ruined by the red that she'd splattered onto them, trying to recreate blood splatter. The rest of the outfit had received the same treatment, and she got out the small container of the paint she used for the blood, smearing some of it on her face and other skin that was visible, before turning to Tikki to see whether she approved or not.

The giggle she received was reassuring.

After sending Adrien a message to say that she was on her way, along with an estimated amount of time before she arrived, rather than leaving her house as a zombie, she went as Ladybug until she ducked into a public toilet. She dropped the transformation after checking that she was alone, tucking Tikki away in her bag, and looked at her appearance in the mirror before she nodded in what was supposed to be an act of confidence.

By the time she made it to Nino's porch, her confidence had disappeared.

Her stomach twisted and turned uncomfortably, reminiscent to how it should've really been with her lies, and the thought of vomiting in the flowers in the front garden that Nino's father cherished had her worrying even more. When she reached up to push to wipe at her clammy forehead, she'd almost forgotten that she'd clipped her bangs away, trying to hide that she usually had a fringe, and smeared the white-coloured face paint further, though she doubted that it could look any worse (or better).

There wasn't much time for debating whether she should walk away or not. Instead of her having to press the bell to alert anyone of her presence, the door opened, and the mop of blond hair gave away who it was immediately.

"Ui!" he greeted happily, voice coming out loud, much louder than the quiet music that was coming from inside. Adrien didn't wait until he closed the distance between them and pulled her into a hug.

She stiffened in surprise.

Realising what he'd done, Adrien pulled back, looking a bit panicked as he reached up and placed a hand on the back of his neck. "I—sorry?" he offered sheepishly. "I should've checked before if I'm allowed to do that, it was pretty rude."

Even with face paint, fake blood, and tattered clothing, his smile was able to brighten up his face. Marinette let out a laugh of amazement at just how kind he could be, and took a step forward, wrapping her arms around his waist as she rested her head on his chest.

It didn't really occur to her that he might've grown when they saw each other almost every day.

"It's fine," she insisted, a happy smile on her lips as he returned the hug without hesitation. "I was just panicking a bit before I was going to knock, but you saved me from that. Though, I have to ask, I thought you said I'd be unrecognisable?"

He snorted. "You're severely overestimating how much my friends actually dress up. I think one of them just shoved a tie on and said they're dead from doing overtime in an office."

"Oh." She grinned. "We're going to stand out, aren't we?"

Just as he'd asked to be, they were matching. Sure, their uniforms wouldn't have looked alike unless they were destroyed, but it seemed he'd had a lot of fun making the rips in the shirt, and the blood splatter that was on it was covering a lot more of the material than it was on hers.

"I'm so glad you're here," he confessed, reaching down and taking her hand into his. "Are you sure you want to come in? We could always ditch and go somewhere else together."

"Looking like this?" Marinette asked as she pulled back to stand upright again. "I really don't mind meting your friends. I'm just—I'll be a little shy, that's all."

It was an understatement. Marinette's plan was only to speak when she was spoken to when they were inside, and she sincerely hoped that Adrien would try and occupy her time for that evening. He'd already said that he was more than willing to ignore everyone else for her, to which she had to point out the entire idea was for her to meet his friends in the first place.

He'd just sighed at that, accepting defeat.

The lipstick he'd smeared around his mouth had gotten onto his teeth. "They'll love you," he assured her, starting to swing their intertwined hands a bit, clearly excitable. "We could stay out here for a little while, if you want? I wouldn't object to having you alone before you're subjected to everyone else."

She didn't have any reason to reject that. Although she saw him almost everyday, there was something special about the way he was looking at her; there was a fondness there that wasn't present usually, and her face already felt warm underneath all the make-up when she had to realise that they really were dating.

Looking at her, he wasn't seeing his class-mate that he'd slowly become friends with, and neither was she wholly Ladybug, the one that had had to pull him out of the way of danger far too often.

"I'm sorry for making you Japanese," Adrien whispered after he'd checked to make sure they really were alone, leaning forward towards her so his words were audible. "I still think you're cute enough to be a main character, though."

She rolled her eyes. "You're silly."

"But you love me this way," he replied with a grin. "Right?"

Normally, he would've typed that or spoken it through his microphone, but seeing the way he waggled his eyebrows a bit, and that she could see the blond on the end of his eyelashes from their close distance, made it feel new. "You're just fishing for compliments now!" Marinette complained, wrinkling her nose in displeasure. "You already know I love you, what more could you want?"

His eyes crinkled at the corners from his smile. "For you to say it?"

"Oh."

It was such a simple answer, but it had a big effect. Marinette was sure that her facial features had softened out, matching the way she felt warm inside, utterly smitten with how he was being. It had been months since he'd looked at her in such a way, and even though he'd been obviously nervous in the beginning—the impromptu hug was proof enough—it was clear that he was slowly becoming more comfortable with her, enough so to talk to her like he usually did online.

She wetted her lips.

"I love you, Adrien," she confessed, reaching up with her free hand to tuck some hairs behind her ear. "Even if you're still really pretty when you're a zombie. It's a bit unfair to the rest of us, really."

She was absolutely sure that his cheeks must've started to hurt from how widely he was smiling. "Me?" he questioned, pointing a finger towards his chest. "You clearly haven't looked in the mirror, then."

With an exaggerated gasp, Marinette asked, "Is this you giving me a compliment?"

"A rare feat, I know," he said while trying to keep a straight face, only the corners of his mouth twitching giving him away. "But I'm absolutely sure that you'll be the prettiest zombie here tonight."

"You sure know how to say the right things," she replied, squeezing his hand. "Does this mean my blood splatter is passable?"

He hummed, leaning back as his eyes trailed over her costume. "It's definitely darker than what I used," Adrien pointed out, making a show of pressing his free hand against his chin to look contemplative. "Something's bugging me, though."

She cocked her head to the side silently, prompting him to continue.

Thankfully, he understood what she meant. "Your hair," he started, reaching out to touch the main bulk of it, and she was absolutely sure that it was a mess from the amount of terrible combing she'd done, even putting some of the fake blood in it. "You never told me that you grew out your fringe."

"I haven't," Marinette admitted, taking hold of his other hand and guiding it to where she'd clipped down her fringe at the sides. "I just... I thought it would be a good idea?"

It came out sounding like a question.

"Oh, it is," Adrien said with a grin. "But even if you came as Ladybug, no one would've noticed anything."

If only it was that easy. "I wish," she replied. "I've had a fringe for years now. I was afraid it would give me away to my friend."

"Right," he murmured, drawing out the vowel. "I almost forgot about that. What's the plan?"

"Other than not letting you know who it is?" Marinette retorted with a lopsided grin, one that caused him to shrug half-heartedly and look a bit sheepish. "I was just going to hope for the best, really. I haven't got anything recognisable that I own with me, so we'll see."

He linked his fingers through hers instead of just holding her hand casually. "You don't sound very confident."

"I'm very close to vomiting in Nino's prized flowers."

The laugh that left him could only be described as a cackle. "You'd never be allowed back again!"

From what she knew, the last time Nino's parties had resulted in the flowers being trampled, he hadn't been allowed to have his birthday party at home the next year (though, that had been back when they were barely teenagers), but she had to catch herself before she said any of that. Other than telling her not to disturb the flowers, or enter the bedrooms upstairs, Adrien hadn't told her anything else about the home.

She really didn't need to accidentally blurt out something she shouldn't have known.

"Have you been here long?" Marinette questioned.

His smile widened. "Yeah, but my father thinks I'm only staying over for dinner. I think he might have a heart attack when I return home looking like this later."

"...How did you get him to agree to let you come here at all?"

"Nino's parents love me," he answered without hesitation. "With a few lies about dinner, it was all fine. So, I've been here since... I think it was three?"

She blinked. "You were talking to me at that time."

"Of course." He looked equally as bewildered. "Why wouldn't I want to talk to you? Besides, Nino's told me to fuck off a few times already today. Apparently, I was too excitable to be around."

"Like a puppy," Marinette teased, raising her free hand to ruffle his hair. It felt stiff and dry, not the usual condition that it looked to be in; then again, it didn't normally try and have the effect of him being dead, which she supposed was a lot of hairspray and make-up that was supposed to be paint splattered onto it. "I bet you haven't shut up about me, have you?"

Adrien lightly batted her hand away. "Just because you have your spy—"

"I haven't spoken to her today!" she defended, shaking her head. "I'm completely innocent. I just know what you're like."

"Yeah," he agreed, voice as soft as the smile on his lips. "You do."

There was clear intent as they looked at each other, mirroring smiles and fondness apparent from their body language and lack of distance, and she closed her eyes as his nose gently brushed against hers. Her heart wasn't beating madly from nerves; rather, it was fluttering in excitement, pleased that he wanted to _kiss_ her—

But a voice startled the two of them. "There you are!" the newcomer exclaimed, causing the both of them to jump and look equally surprised as they turned their head to see who it was. And there, within the lights of Nino's porch, was Adrien's best friend who was grinning ear-to-ear. "You just disappeared on us, man."

Adrien's response was to groan and rest his head against her shoulder, hiding his face from view.

It left Marinette staring at her class-mate, a grimace clear on her face, and she assumed that her terror was there for anyone to see, too. "I—hi," she stuttered, voice sounding a bit strangled, embarrassed for having been caught.

Adrien had no qualms with wrapping his arms around her middle, and as her face warmed up at the raised eyebrows it earned them, Marinette wondered whether her make-up would cover her blush. She'd been almost prepared to meet their friends while maybe holding Adrien's hands, not with him practically hanging off of her as they were caught before they'd actually been able to kiss.

It was a shame, too. She'd been excited for it, having not been able to even hold his hand in a romantic way—nor a friendly one, as she hadn't done so as herself normally—for almost six months.

All because Nino had the gall to interrupt them. And from the smug grin that was on his lips, he was more than aware of what he'd done.

Rocking on his heels, Nino put his hands in his pockets. "I didn't disturb anything, did I?" he sang, clearly teasing. The costume he wore consisted of a bad wig that looked like it was going to fall off at any moment, and a t-shirt that he wouldn't have usually wore. It was a poor attempt, and he clearly looked out of place next to her and Adrien. "I was just worried you died for real, dude. You can't blame me for that."

"There's literally a window in your front door," Adrien muttered, not making any move to stand upright and look at his friend. Instead, he seemed to nuzzle into her neck a bit as he got more comfortable, though she had to assume it would start to hurt soon, due to him having to lean down to do so. "Can't you give me a few minutes alone with my girlfriend?"

Nino laughed. "It's been like twenty minutes."

"You can't just time how long I've been gone," he spluttered.

"It wasn't me," Nino defended himself, raising his hands in a sign of surrender, even though Marinette was the only one to see it. "Where's your impeccable manners? Aren't you supposed to introduce us now?"

Adrien just grumbled, "Maybe I don't want to."

It made Nino's smile grow wider.

A bit nervous, Marinette cleared her throat before she extended one of her hands forward to shake his. "Hi," she said, voice cracking and sounding as though she needed to cough badly. "I'm—"

"Ui," Nino interjected, shaking her hand with enough force and enthusiasm to make Adrien wobble from where he was hugging her. "I've heard all about you, believe me."

"Oh," she said, swallowing audibly. "I—good things, I hope?"

Pushing up with spectacles with one finger, Nino just shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Stop trying to be mysterious," Adrien demanded of his friend as he finally stood upright, though he did keep one arm around her waist, making it so they were still standing closely. "Ui, this nerd who completely forgot to introduce himself is Nino. You've heard all the bad things about him."

A laugh escaped her as the two of them glared at each other.

After that, she really did have to go through the front door and actually enter the party. The music still wasn't too loud, but everyone was spread throughout two rooms, either lingering in the kitchen for the food that was provided, or lounging in the living room where a film was playing (with the subtitles on, to try and make it understandable through the music). Nino went on to warn her that his parents were upstairs, and other than going up the stairs for the bathroom, no one was allowed in any of the other rooms, including his bedroom.

She wasn't really going to argue with that.

Meeting the rest of his friends happened in much the same fashion as it had with Nino. Instead of having Adrien attached to her side and hugging her tightly, however, he was either holding her hand or prompting her to sit closely beside him, only disappearing to get the two of them drinks or snacks. Whenever someone called his name, he checked to see whether she wanted to come along with him or stay where she was, and her answer every time was to just clasp his hand and follow along.

Other than Nino, Alya was the hardest to meet as Ui.

Her best friend—gosh, it was really hard to think of that when the smile she received wasn't quite as wide as it usually was—was more than happy to meet her, but the conversation was stilted and awkward when Adrien disappeared, as Marinette didn't want to contribute too much.

She was worrying about the oddest things. What if her laugh was recognisable? She'd never considered that, but since she'd started to be faced with people that had literally grown up with her, she was more than self-conscious about it. Even the way she cradled her drink with two hands had her wonder if she was being too obvious, but other than the questions about her relationship with Adrien, no one really asked her anything else.

It probably had to do with the vague answers that she gave. It had her receive a few blank looks at how deadpan she'd been, and they sometimes waited to see whether she'd elaborate after that, and it resulted in awkward stares as she just raised her cup to take a nervous sip from it.

She thought it was going well, though. When her real name was brought up, when some were mourning her for being too ill too attend, she didn't stiffen in surprise, which was amazing feat that made her feel proud.

After Adrien had taken her around the rooms to meet everyone, he was ecstatic to just sit down beside her in the living room, having raised her eyebrows when there was only one chair available. He'd joked that she could sit on his lap, and she'd taken him up on the offer after seeing the spilled drink on the door, perching herself on the end near his knees, though they did dig into her a bit.

It earned them a chorus of appreciative noises, to which Marinette put her face in her hands from embarrassment. Adrien wasn't much better; his ears weren't covered by the make-up, so the blush gave him away whenever he was feeling shy.

It was nice, though. Everyone was kind towards her, no one had been explicitly mean—which she hadn't realistically expected, but still the fear had been there—and she was enjoying herself thoroughly. Adrien had alternated between holding her hand and having an arm around her waist for over an hour, and the closeness didn't make her freeze up at all.

He was really attentive towards her, too, asking whether she wanted another drink, or if she wanted to go somewhere else every now and then. It was sweet, and she really hadn't expected him to notice everything about her costume when they were just sat down together.

"Your eyes," he started, fiddling with her hand that was resting on her lap. "You've got contacts in, haven't you?"

Checking that no one was close enough to hear them, Marinette smiled softly and nodded her head in confirmation. "I was wondering whether you'd notice that."

"It's a bit hard to in the dark," he pointed out, his eyes looking directly into her own. Unlike her, the only thing he'd changed was from the make-up smeared across his face, but it wasn't enough for anyone not to know that it was him. "This colour really suits you as well."

She grinned. "Thank you."

The only thing stopping her from kissing him were the other people in the room. If her sitting on his lap caused a chorus of hoots, she didn't want to imagine what would happen if she did anything else.

"I'm just going to the bathroom," Marinette said after a while, stretching out her legs before she stood up. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

Adrien just smiled and told her the directions again, something that she'd forgotten to ask.

To show her gratitude, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek, the smile that appeared on his lips mirroring her own as he raised a hand to touch the skin where she'd kissed.

She could hear Nino loudly calling his name as she left.

Her worries for the evening were almost gone. Maybe it was because she was letting her guard down, or that she'd been too oblivious to see what was happening at all, but after she'd washed her hands and opened the door to the bathroom to exit, there was someone standing outside, clearly waiting from how they were leaning against the wall, their arms crossed as they stared at the stairs.

Almost tripping from surprise at seeing her best friend there, Marinette ducked her head in greeting and started to make her way across the hall, ready to rejoin Adrien instead of having a one-on-one with anyone else.

Alya, however, had other ideas about that. She grabbed onto her wrist, using the surprise to tug Marinette back within the bathroom, closing the door behind them, and the lock was audible was it was slid into place.

Stumbling a little, Marinette stared in horror at her best friend who was blocking the door, looking at her with raised eyebrows that only asked for an explanation.

A bit of make-up clearly wasn't enough to hide everything, apparently.

"I—Alya, is it?" Marinette blurted, trying her best to appear confused and, most of all, completely innocent. "Can I help you?"

Alya just leaned against the door, crossing her arms once more as she stared, lips pursed.

It did wonders for her pulse. With her heart beating erratically in her chest, and surely showing her terror on her face, Marinette wondered where she'd messed up. Was it really her laugh? Had she been stupid enough to be too open to Alya, the brief time that they'd spoken? It wasn't as though Marinette had actively engaged in conversation, nor had she made any references or inside jokes with her—goodness, even Adrien hadn't tried to guess who her friend was.

Then again, if he had guessed it was Alya, she would've just laughed.

Alya eventually asked, "What are you doing?"

Rather than admitting to everything, Marinette instead chose to tell the truth. "I was going back downstairs?"

It still came out sounding like a question, though.

Alya didn't look impressed, and she didn't blame her for that. It wasn't clear whether Alya really knew who she was, or if she was just trying to interrogate Ui—but Alya had no reason to be suspicious of Ui, and it certainly wasn't her place to be so upfront about her suspicions. While Alya and Adrien were friends, she didn't see why Alya would pull aside his girlfriend to confront her with whatever doubts she was harbouring.

So, when Alya spoke up, she didn't have to feign her surprise at all. "Are you catfishing Adrien Agreste?"

Marinette choked, the coughs that she experienced causing her eyes to water, throat starting to burn as she tried to get herself under control. It didn't take long for her to stop, swallowing pathetically to try and wet her dry mouth, and she wiped at the liquid that had gathered at her eyes quickly, no doubt smearing her make-up further.

"I am _not_ catfishing Adrien Agreste," Marinette retorted, looking at her best friend through blurry eyes.

Alya just frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, sure that redness had seeped onto her face underneath the make-up. "How could you ask that of me? You don't even know me."

Although she wasn't confident in those words, truly worried that her friend and seen had seen through her immediately, she needed to know for sure.

Alya continued to look unimpressed. "I can still see it's you, Marinette."

She stiffened, trying not to show her reaction. But when Alya was so insistent on looking at her, as though she was trying to see every little detail of her, she couldn't help but blurt out, "That's just rude. I'm Japanese."

It didn't earn her a laugh, but she understood why not.

The silence between them was uncomfortable.

Shifting on the spot, Marinette decided to be the one to ask, "Why do you think I'm Marinette?"

"Well," Alya started, reaching down into one of her pockets to take out of her cell phone. "Because I was there when you got that cut on your knee, that definitely isn't make-up, and I'm pretty sure your phone's lighting up with my text right now."

Well—

"Fuck," she said eloquently. "I—"

It was a confirmation as any. Alya's expression turned smug before it became harsh with a frown of disapproval, a vast contrast to the polite smiles that she'd received all evening. "What are you doing, Marinette?" Alya questioned, sounding as displeased as she looked. "I—he's your _friend_ , you can't do this—"

Somehow, in factoring in all the ways that she was hiding, she hadn't really thought of just putting a plaster on her knee. It had been a few days since she'd tripped going up the stairs to the school, such a little thing that she'd never bothered to think about. It had been back at the beginning of week, no longer bleeding, and she'd believed that just putting some make-up around the scab would help it blend in with the rest of her.

But, apparently, that wasn't enough.

It was no wonder her friend considered herself an inside source of information (which, ironically, was for Ladybug and Chat Noir).

"It's not what you think!" Marinette tried to say, frustrating causing her syllables at the end to portray her stress. But her friend just shook her head, not listening to her, and Marinette dug her hands into the material of her skirt, stomach twisting uncomfortably in a mixture of guilt and dread. "I-I know this looks bad, okay? But it's not, I swear it—"

"You're Ui," Alya accused, giving her a moment to deny it. And when Marinette just stayed silent, looking at her friend with suspiciously itchy eyes, Alya shook her head, causing her hair to hide part of her expression. "You're—you've been lying to us all along, haven't you?"

There wasn't an easy way out of it. Marinette blinked furiously, trying not to cry, but the tears of frustration came easily, just like they always did whenever she was mad. It was something that she was scared that she wouldn't grow out of, but that paled in comparison to her friend being mad at her. Of all the times they'd had petty fights, none had really been so serious—then again, it wasn't every day that it was found out that she'd been lying to her friends for over six months.

Alya averted her gaze as she stated, "You didn't even try to change your voice. It's like you wanted to get caught."

It wasn't like she could come out with the whole story. There was no way that Alya would believe it, and revealing her most guarded secret wasn't something she could do just to salvage her friendship; the safety of herself and Chat was much more important than her having a best friend, no matter how daunting that was to realise.

Her lips parted, but no sound came out. She was floundering, trying to think of anything to say, but seeing the frown and look of betrayal that was sent her way was absolutely terrifying.

Her voice was weak when she finally croaked, "I'm sorry."

Alya wasn't there to hear quiet apologies. Instead, she persisted and asked, "Does he even know?"

"No," Marinette confessed, tearing her eyes away from her friend as she stared at the floor, her vision growing increasingly blurrier. "I—he doesn't, no."

Slowly, Alya exhaled audibly, looking utterly disappointed with her. "Marinette," Alya started, and her voice sounded so blank of emotion, not at all betraying how she was really feeling. "I... I love you, but you're a fucking idiot, you do know that, right?"

A shaky laugh escaped her as an answer, but it came out as a sob.

It was some moments later that a hand came to rest on her shoulder, and Marinette jumped, not quite sure what she was expecting. When she looked up, she was able to see Alya gazing at her with an unknown emotion.

She didn't know how to feel about that.

"I'm not going to tell him," Alya stated, voice quiet and barely audible, even in the large bathroom that seemed to echo at times. "I—I'm not here to clean up your messes, okay?"

It was more than she was looking for, really. "Alya—"

"No," Alya said, taking her hand back and taking a step away. "I'm not doing this for you. Adrien's our friend, and you're—you're deceiving him."

She couldn't swallow the lump in her throat. "You want me to tell him," Marinette accused weakly.

"It's the least you can do," Alya pointed out, running a hand through her hair, looking frazzled. "I—all this time, he's been talking about you, and you've... you've just sat there through it, letting him."

There wasn't a logical way that she could defend herself. Claiming that she'd signed the initial card wrong wouldn't suffice why she'd kept her identity a secret for so long, and even though she knew that it had been selfish all along, to string him along without being able to reveal anything, she never thought it would get to the point of someone close to her telling her the same things that she'd been thinking.

"I'm really mad at you."

Blinking rapidly, she quietly replied, "I deserve it."

"Yes," Alya retorted sharply. "You really do."

-x-

She and Chat got a lead in their investigation when someone posted a blurry picture online. It had the caption that they hoped the occupants of the home were okay, including the owners and the staff that were inside, and it had the two of them staring down at her weapon, both incredulous at the contents.

"No," Marinette said immediately. "I—that's ridiculous."

Beside her, Chat was quiet.

For the past few weeks, her relationship with Alya had been frosty at best. Marinette felt guilty, yes, but she couldn't do what her friend had asked of her—and that resulted in disapproving glances and awkward conversations, the tension between them clear enough that others had quietly asked them what was going on.

It wasn't as though Marinette couldn't actually tell them.

True to her word, Alya hadn't disclosed her secret; well, she assumed she hadn't, otherwise the accusations of her being Ui would've been appearing in the classroom. Instead, there were a few mentions of Ui to Adrien, and the party being talked about in general (someone had trampled the flowers), and everything other than her relationship with Alya was normal.

Thankfully, her project with Adrien had been finished, so there wasn't any reason for her to find herself alone with him. They still talked, be it through text or online with her as Ui, but she didn't tell him about her troubles. It seemed far too obvious if she was to bring it up, and the thought scared her. Having Alya find out about her deceit had been bad enough, and she didn't want to add anyone else onto that.

So, the times at the weekends when she sat beside Chat, eating the food that he'd brought along, just talking casually, were the highlights of her week. Of course, when they turned serious after eating and changed to really talking about what they were there for, looking through the pictures they'd found through the week, adding them onto the map she'd purchased and folded up to bring along with her, it wasn't quite as fun as before, but it wasn't awful.

She didn't know whether to feel guilty about enjoying her time with someone else so much. Chat was just—he was an escape to her, almost. When she was with him, just sat on a rooftop as they traded vegetables that they didn't like as much as the other, she didn't have to worry about her friend's disapproving gaze her way. She could just forget about being Marinette for a while, sitting beside her best friend, one who would completely understand her troubles.

Still, she wasn't able to share everything with him. Just like she didn't know if he was in a relationship, he didn't know that about her, and they were going to keep it that way.

Being faced with someone from her normal life within her time with him wasn't common.

And yet, there was no denying who's house was featured in the pictures.

"It's impossible," Marinette insisted, voice cracking at the end. "He's... Adrien can't be."

There was a pregnant pause before Chat spoke up, with, "No, he can't."

Wide-eyed, Marinette raised her head to look at her friend, trying to understand why he was agreeing with her at all. She caught sight of his furrowed brow, the frown on his lips as he stared down at her weapon instead of looking up at her.

"There's more than just him in the house, though," he pointed out quietly, pointing a finger towards the picture. "It could be a member of his father's staff, if they were home, or even a visitor—it seems silly to just jump to conclusions and assume that it's him."

"It's _not_ him," she insisted, reaching up and running a hand through her hair. "Think of all the times we've saved him? There's no way that he is—"

Chat reached up, taking her hand away from where she'd started to pull on her hair in frustration, and his expression could only be described as soft. "I get it, okay?"

There was a lump in her throat. "No, you really don't."

"I absolutely believe you," he said, holding her hand between them. "But we need to think about this before we go in there without anything to back us up. No one knows we're doing this, remember?"

No one knew about them whatsoever. "Right," she confirmed, clearing her throat and trying to calm herself down, surely that ugly red patches had appeared on her cheeks. "I just—I'm sorry, it can't be him. If he'd been in the way maybe once, then sure, but he's been targeted a lot because of all of this."

"Right," Chat murmured, trailing off as he stared down at their hands. "You're—you're _right_. That's what the villains do in films, isn't it?

She blinked. "What?"

"To throw us off their trail!" he insisted, using his free hand to emphasise his words. "They intentionally get hurt so they're overlooked—it's so _simple—_ "

"Simple?" Marinette parroted, confused. "It's really not? They'd have to release the akuma, hope that it goes for them out of everyone else in the city. There's nothing simple about it at all when you think about everything that could've gone wrong."

Chat waved a hand dismissively. "It just means that we can't exclude anyone that's been a victim, okay?"

She squinted. "Adrien's never been one."

"No," he confirmed. "But others who are in that house almost daily have."

Pursing her lips, she couldn't argue with that. However, that didn't mean that she saw logic in his statements; it still seemed unrealistic, especially the thought of Papillon infecting themselves to make sure that they were safe—

"It doesn't make sense," Marinette insisted, shaking her head. "We've never been even close to finding Papillon. So why would you assume that they've been infected before?"

Chat bumped his shoulder against hers. "Because a good portion of our city has been? We've been at this for over two years, Bug."

"That doesn't prove anything," she stated, typing away on her bandalore, bringing up the pages that they'd saved which showed the area of infection for each attack. "Even with the rate of infected, there's still countless others that haven't been involved first-hand that could be guilty. We can't just go in and accuse them of anything."

"But I doubt many of them had stepped into the Agreste's home," he pointed out. "We're working with the theory they only go inside to leave the first area and to infect, right?"

She swallowed. "Yes, but—"

"But on the day that picture was taken," Chat said, reaching over to pick up the map that she'd settled down beside her. Pointing to a little note that she'd stuck to it, he continued, "It's not anywhere near that home, is it?"

The words died in her throat as she looked in the centre of the map.

It was one that she'd seen often when she visited Alya's home, the map pinned onto her bedroom wall and her pride and joy. Alya was fanatical about pinning the right areas, keeping the post updated on her site with new images whenever there was another attack. But whenever she'd looked at it, she'd never really—she'd never taken the time to look what was in the areas between all the violence.

She felt sick.

"Chat," she whispered, voice barely audible. "I—I hate to say it, but you might be right."

He stilled. "Oh?"

"Look at this map," Marinette whispered, passing her weapon over to him, sure that her hands would've felt clammy if it wasn't for her suit. Instead of gazing at it with him, seeing his reaction, she pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her head on the top of them as she closed her eyes.

The lump in her throat wasn't disappearing.

When he spoke, it wasn't anything eloquent. "Oh," he repeated, sounding lost. "I—"

Regardless of which way the akuma went from being released, if they worked with Adrien's home being in the centre, it was almost a perfect circle. It was in the middle of everything, sitting unsuspectingly in the map since no one had ever considered it—and why would they? There was still countless buildings around it that could've been the source, a whole area that hadn't had many attacks, but neither of them had a photograph which showed a butterfly coming out of their windows.

"If we're—" Chat cut himself off, clearing his throat.

She wasn't sure whether he was stalling or not.

He sounded a bit more confident as he said, "But someone's been infected here before."

"Small distance," she answered, feeling a bit numb. "It could be a coincidence, we could be utterly wrong, but I... I truly don't know what to say."

There wasn't much they could do. It was clear that the security cameras wouldn't be of any help, not when the window that was spotted was on the very top level, where the rooms weren't even used. For such a large house, she knew the general layout of it from the few times she'd entered as Ladybug, just to try and solve a case that was happening.

Still, the possibility that Papillon was working from within her boyfriend's home was a terrifying one.

They couldn't set up cameras to keep an eye out, nor could they recruit anyone to help them, not without supplying them with more information. Chat's idea to hire a personal investigator was shot down when they both realised they had no money to work with, and they couldn't explain that they wanted them to take pictures of akumas coming from a specific home without causing there to be worry.

The plan they settled with was terrible, truly. It was one of the worst ones possible, but it was the only one that they could agree upon.

It just relied on a lot of coincidences.

-x-

Alya had been understandably frigid with her, meaning that they didn't meet up outside of school, but, at least, she didn't avoid her during classes. Marinette still sat with her in the classes where they'd already selected their seats, sitting with her, Nino, and Adrien at lunch, so it was lucky that she hadn't lost her completely. However, whenever Marinette turned towards Adrien to answer him or start a conversation, she was more than aware of her friend's disapproving stare.

It was worse when Adrien's birthday came. Although Marinette had decided to reject most casual invitations, that hadn't included birthday parties, but Adrien wasn't allowed one that year. He didn't complain about it, though, simply shrugging whenever someone asked what was going on, and he replied that he just wanted to spend time with his girlfriend instead.

He lied and said that Ui was coming to visit.

 **gduiuightr [17:32]  
** _what's going on with your birthday?  
you haven't even asked me to come visit  
so what are you doing_

 **adrien [17:34]  
** _talking to you online?  
what a nice way to spend the evening_

 **gduiuightr [17:35]  
** _don't try and be smart  
I've got a spy, remember?  
I know all about your lies_

 **adrien [17:38]  
** _ok ok  
i just don't want to do anything this year?  
nino wasn't really taking no for an answer so i lied _

**gduiuightr [17:40]  
** _you don't want to see your friends?_

 **adrien [17:43]  
** _oh, that's not it  
of course i do!  
in small doses  
but things have been tense at home lately  
and i doubt i'd be able to meet them anywhere else so  
it's just avoiding a problem before it happens?_

 **gduiuightr [17:44]  
** _a problem?  
I thought things were going okay for you  
you said that last week_

 **adrien [17:45]  
** _please don't hurt me for lying  
i just didn't want to worry you!_

 **gduiuightr [17:46]  
** _now I'm even more worried  
about your lying ways  
how can I ever trust you again?  
my heart's broken_

 **adrien [17:47]  
** _i promise i won't lie again, ui  
i was just embarrassed to admit it_

 **gduiuightr [17:49]  
** _I'll consider forgiving you._

 **adrien [17:50]  
** _the dot hurts than any rejection_

 **gduiuightr [17:50]  
** _..._

 **adrien [17:51]  
** _ouch  
i might've  
cried last week?_

 **gduiuightr [17:51]  
** _question mark?_

 **adrien [17:52]  
** _ok  
i full on sobbed  
snot everywhere  
it was really gross and i  
i didn't want you thinking of me like that_

 **gduiuightr [17:53]  
** _I've heard you cry before?_

 **adrien [17:54]  
** _honestly  
i was hoping you'd forget about that_

 **gduiuightr [17:54]  
** _no way_

 **adrien [17:55]  
** _are you trying to say it was a good memory_

 **gduiuightr [17:55]  
** _it's proof that you're not a robot  
I have my doubts sometimes_

 **adrien [17:56]  
** _that's very reassuring  
fine you can remember my sniffles  
if it makes you happy_

 **gduiuightr [17:57]  
** _you make me happy_

 **adrien [17:57]  
** _my heart can't take this_

As she couldn't get him a present as his girlfriend, and absolutely rejected his idea of getting her friend to put in front of his locker (he wasn't thinking straight at all there, and he even admitted that himself afterwards), nor could she agree to come and visit him, the best she could do was give him a gift during their classes as a friend.

The smile she received was wide, but it wasn't a personal one. Still, Marinette returned it, trying to avoid Alya's eyes as she turned her attention back to doodling on her piece of paper.

It just reminded her that she had bigger things to protect than a friendship. She was sure that when it was over, no matter how long that would be, she had a chance to repair the damage that had happened; surely, then, she could confess to Adrien about who she was, and therefore make Alya understand without outright telling her that she was Ladybug.

It was a bit strange. Before her meeting with Chat, before they'd found what she assumed to be a clue, her daydreams about catching Papillon had always been unrealistic. What they knew about them was little, and the chances of being able to stop them were miniscule; no matter what they told the public, how they assured them that they were doing their best, it always felt like they were lying a little bit.

After all, victims had conversed more with Papillon than either of them had, and after each akuma was purified, they forgot about their time under Papillon's control—meaning no one had anyone information to tell them.

She fiddled with her earrings.

It took almost two months for her plan with Chat to work.

For weeks, Marinette had been a little distant with Adrien, telling him that she'd be busy on the weekends—even more than before—and her parents believed that she was spending time with her friends until evening. It made her spend only a small portion of her time online talking to Adrien, eating breakfast with her parents before she was running off, and the sightings of Ladybug hadn't done any good when she was seen in broad daylight the first time she left.

She felt silly, but after causing a bit of panic, she pulled on a large black-coloured hoodie that Chat had gotten for her, pulling the hood up and trying to hide her face. Still, she couldn't just sit across the street from her boyfriend's home—what a creepy thought, she _really_ didn't want to be caught, not when she hadn't told him anything about what she was doing—and the next best option was being on an opposite roof, trying to stay away from sight and any cameras that would take constant footage.

Their great plan was awful. It had a lot of flaws, including her being bored out of her mind as she wasted two days a week just sat on a rooftop, but Chat had said that he'd be too busy to join her—and she didn't resent him for that. She hadn't expected him to be able to shrug off all his normal responsibilities to keep her company, not when she was just lucky that her parents were busy.

Still, camping out and staring at Adrien's home for eight hours a day wasn't the ideal way she wanted to spend time.

In theory, the plan was for her to see if an akuma would come from the back of Adrien's home, as that's where the window was located, and for her to investigate further if it ever happened. Chat would stall the akuma, to try and stop anything bad from happening until she was able to get there, and her part of the plan was just to peek to see whether Papillon would really be in there.

She wasn't planning to fight them alone, not when they'd never met face-to-face before.

Two months of camping out on different rooftops behind Adrien's home meant that countless days just staring at the bricks on his house and being close to going crazy. The winter break had came for her school, which resulted in her volunteering to be on lookout a lot more, and the first day that she took off, there had been an attack when she wasn't there.

It frustrated her beyond belief.

Chat was reassuring, telling her that she didn't have to do it, but she _wanted_ to. After two years, it was the closest lead that they had to the terror that was caused in their city, and if that depended on her staring at the too-bright bricks of Adrien's house, counting all the windows from afar, then she was going to do just that.

She hadn't wanted to bring a book or something that she would have to give her attention to, not when it would potentially cause her to miss anything that happened, and it was because of that that the only company she had was in the form of headphones underneath the hood the whole day.

She made sure to update the music on her phone a lot.

It was dumb, but it was the best they could come up with together. They were still against involving the police, or anyone else, especially Alya, with what they were doing.

It was just lucky that she couldn't feel the cold when she was transformed.

When the day came where her work finally paid off, Marinette almost missed it.

Sometimes, she wondered whether if she needed glasses, if the transformation would fix her vision to avoid her having to wear spectacles in fights. Her vision was as good as it usually was, no better and no worse, which meant that it would've been easy to miss the movement.

Still, her body stiffened when she saw the window open up from the home across from her; the same one from the picture that had been captured, where someone had been sympathetic and wondering whether everyone was okay, but—

But the butterfly was coming out of it once more.

Her stomach clenched uncomfortably, and she reached up with a shaking hand to push the headphones off of her head, trying to hear whether anything was amiss. It was silly, of course, none of her senses had been enhanced, but she wasn't thinking straight.

The windows were closing again, ever-so-systemically, as though it was done on command whenever needed. The akuma was fluttering off, too far away to see the little black particles that floated around it, proving it to be something unnatural, and even though she knew that she could chase after it, attempt to cleanse it prematurely, she knew that she couldn't.

It would give away her position, losing any high ground that they'd managed to achieve. Her eyes felt itchy, utterly irritating and betraying her emotions, as she saw it fly away, further and further until it was out of her vision, no longer able to seen.

Hastily wiping her eyes, Marinette pulled out her bandalore, checking on the screen to see whether Chat was transformed or not.

His dot wasn't there, indicating that he wasn't.

She needed to think straight. Just trying to to go in alone wouldn't work, not when she would be acting on adrenaline alone, and she didn't want to ruin their plan from the first moment they grasped a bit of evidence. It wasn't foolproof, and it certainly could be denied, but it was _something_.

A lot more than they'd managed to get in two years.

-x-

Chat stared at her blankly when she told him what she saw.

She understood his reaction, truly, and probably feared the implications a lot more than him—well, then again, she didn't know anything about his life. If he was connected to the Agrestes or not, she had no idea, but she hoped that it wouldn't effect his life negatively if they prodded any further. Chat was never going to tell her if he had a personal connection to their investigation, and she certainly wasn't going to tell him that she was dating Adrien.

It hardly felt like she was in the past weeks.

Since confirming that the second akuma had came from the same window, she'd been hesitating when replying to Adrien online, feeling faintly sick as she thought about what could be going on in his house. She—she didn't _know_ whether it could be a member of staff, or even the dreaded thought that it could be his father, but the only definite proof that she had was that it wasn't him.

Thankfully, Chat didn't ask her reasoning for that any further.

"If you don't ask me any questions," Chat started, staring down at his hands instead of at her. "I could get my hands on the security tapes. You know, to try and see who was there at the time."

She pursed her lips. "Will—will you be safe?"

"Yes." He still didn't look up at her. "I promise I won't be in danger, Bug."

"I doubt we can actually see any playback on our weapons," she mused, holding her bandalore up, as if to inspect it. "Think you'll be capable of looking at it in your free time?"

A choked sort of sound left him. "I—yeah, definitely. I can do that."

"I wouldn't normally persuade you to break the law," Marinette murmured, pushing her fringe out of her face. "But I don't really know what we're supposed to do. It's not like there's a handbook or anything for us to use."

Chat bumped his shoulder gently against hers. "For the record, I think you're doing really good."

"You're only saying that because you weren't the one being bored to death on a roof."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," he agreed with a grin. "At least you don't have to do that any more, right?"

It was undecided what they were going to do next. Surely, just sitting on rooftops and watching Adrien's home wasn't going to help, not unless they went any further. But if Chat said that he could get the tapes without any trouble, she was going to trust him on that (no matter whether that meant him doing something illegal, or if he really did have a connection to the household that would let him walk inside).

She let out an audible breath. "Not until you watch those tapes, no."

It meant a week of waiting.

Classes had already came back into session during her weeks of watching, and even though that weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, she wasn't able to relax. Marinette felt constantly on edge as she considered all the possibilities, and whenever Adrien turned around to face her, she either stiffened or choked up, not quite able to meet his eyes with her heavy heart.

It was too much stress for a fifteen-year-old to have.

Idly, she wondered whether Chat had turned sixteen since they'd told each other their ages, or whether anything significant had changed in his life. She liked to imagine that he had it a lot easier than her with processing the information, most likely to him not being there to actually witness it.

While knew that she wasn't being smart about her avoidance in person, she didn't realise that it had also become obvious online.

 **adrien [21:48]  
** _okay, ui  
that was my best joke yet  
and you didn't even react_

 **gduiuightr [21:50]  
** _oh!  
sorry, I didn't even realise  
just a bit distracted_

 **adrien [21:52]  
** _what's on your mind?  
you know you can talk to me  
vaguely_

 **gduiuightr [21:54]  
** _it's nothing!  
I'm sorry for worrying you  
feeling kinda sick today  
that's all_

 **adrien [21:55]  
** _i hope you feel better soon!  
if it helps  
i might die from the heat soon_

 **gduiuightr [21:56]  
** _adrien  
it's january?_

 **adrien [21:59]  
** _listen  
while my father's a fucking iceberg lately  
he doesn't want to live in a home  
where the floors are colder than his heart_

 **gduiuightr [22:02]  
** _...  
I don't think he said that_

 **adrien [22:03]  
** _it was implied  
with his eyes_

 **gduiuightr [22:04]  
** _surprised you saw him enough to see his eyes  
hasn't he been skipping your meals lately?_

 **adrien [22:05]  
** _you're making me sound lonely  
i'm fine!  
i just send messages to you  
or annoy nino for a bit  
it's all good_

 **gduiuightr [22:06]  
** _so what's the complaint?_

 **adrien [22:08]  
** _i think he might be trying to kill me  
the heating's been turned up to like  
fucking max?  
idk but it's driving me mad_

 **gduiuightr [22:09]  
** _there's better ways to kill you, adrien  
I can think of some already_

 **adrien [22:11]  
** _don't give him any ideas!  
it's so fucking hot though  
i've resorted to leaving my window open  
all the time  
just so i can breathe_

 **gduiuightr [22:11]  
** _poor baby_

 **adrien [22:12]  
** _honestly  
that sounds sarcastic  
but i'll take it  
i deserve the sympathy _

**gduiuightr [22:12]  
** _I'd pat your head if I could_

 **adrien [22:13]  
** _the ultimate sympathy pat?  
i deserve that too  
_

 **gduiuightr [22:13]  
** _there, there, little prince  
your servants will pour you an ice bath soon_

 **adrien [22:14]  
** _that doesn't sound too bad right now  
fetch me my ice, peasant_

 **gduiuightr [22:14]  
** _I said your servants  
not your girlfriend_

 **adrien [22:15]  
** _wouldn't it count as you servicing me though_

 **gduiuightr [22:15]  
** _…  
blocked_

 **adrien [22:15]  
** _no please  
i just have bad jokes_

 **gduiuightr [22:16]  
** _deleted_

She tried to be more chipper after that, to pay more attention to conversations, but it was a little straining. It didn't help that Alya continued to be frosty towards her, refusing to explain when Nino had asked what was wrong—Marinette found that out when Nino approached her, trying to get her side of the story to find out what had happened, and she'd just kept her mouth shut.

She was glad that her friend wasn't ignoring her fully.

It was just luck that her kwami was sympathetic, able to understand what was going on in her head, even when she was quiet. Tikki had always been sweet and kind, trying to help her make the best of herself, even outside of the transformation, and that truly showed whenever Marinette was having a hard time with her life. For being a magical being, Tikki had a good grasp on what made humans tick, and knew exactly what to say to make Marinette feel better when she was close to tears some evenings.

When the weekend came, Chat was able to narrow it down to four possible suspects. Marinette had stared, her lips curling down into a frown from the news, and he'd taken that as disapproval.

"I didn't do anything bad, I promise," he rambled, looking at her wide-eyed as he tried to explain. "I—it was all completely legal, okay? Well, maybe not, but I didn't get caught. There's no way that they'll know it was me, and it's not like I _deleted_ the footage, so they'll never guessed that I looked at it in the first place."

She swallowed audibly. "I..."

Running a hand through his hair roughly, pushing the messy strands out of place, Chat continued on to say, "I had enough time to look through who was present for when the first picture was taken, too."

She blinked. "That's from months ago."

"Yeah," he confirmed. "But they keep everything in folders with the dates attached. It's really organised."

A bit uncertain, Marinette pointed out, "And you were able to get in."

Chat averted his eyes. "No questions, remember?"

"Right." She resisted the urge to sigh. "But that was a statement, not a question."

"Same thing—no fishing for more information, okay?" Chat asked, pleading. "I need to protect myself as much as you look out for yourself."

It was all he needed to say. Marinette accepted the explanation, swallowing any of the follow-up words that she wanted to say, and the two of them swapped to discussing what they were going to do. They agreed that they couldn't involve others, still; the police weren't well equipped for fighting akumas, often leaving it up to them, and they didn't need any investigators if their information was correct.

It was just hard to stomach where their suspicions were pointing to. Along with Gabriel Agreste, three others were inside the home for both events.

"We can't stalk them," Marinette blurted when they were trying to think of a plan. "I—that's a little insane, isn't it? And so much more crazy than just camping out on a rooftop."

Chat sighed in agreement. "What else are we supposed to do?"

Although she didn't like it, she asked whether he could access the security tapes again. Chat confirmed as much, not elaborating any further, and they tried to lighten the mood for the rest of the evening they were together, but the atmosphere was stilted. The jokes that he'd usually resort to were pushed aside, and Chat was quiet for the most part, preferring to stare at the sky above instead of looking at her.

She sincerely hoped that his normal life was better than what they had to deal with together.

"When this is over," Marinette started, leaning over so she could gently put her hand onto his thigh. "We're definitely going to get ice cream together. I don't care if it's still winter."

His smile was lopsided, only showing one of his dimples. "Is that you saying you'll pay?"

"I do need to make up for all the food you've bought us," she pointed out. "My allowance would've _cried_ after the third week. I don't work often enough to make that much money."

"I suppose I can let you treat me, then," Chat mused. "Just because I'm a nice person."

She snorted. "Oh, you're the best."

"Careful," he replied, flicking her hand without much force. "That almost sounds sarcastic."

Marinette just grinned.

-x-

The problem with being on the outs with Alya for just over two months was that the guilt Marinette was feeling intensified with every accusing look that was sent her way. They hadn't met up over the winter break—though Marinette's parents didn't know that—and their not-so-enthusiastic conversations had caught their class-mate's attention.

So, when Adrien had the day off as he had to go to a photoshoot, Marinette almost considered not going into school. Then again, she didn't want to take advantage of her parents' trust any further, and trudged reluctantly to the front gates of the school, dragging her feet a little as she walked through the entrance.

As she expected, Alya pulled her aside at lunch, dragging her into the nearest toilets. After making sure that no one was in the stalls, Alya leaned back on the wall beside the door, crossing her arms, just staring at her.

Marinette swallowed, nervous. "What did I do now?"

"You mean other than continuing to lie to your boyfriend?" Alya retorted, eyes narrowed. "When I said I wasn't going to tell him for you, I didn't expect you to string him along for all this time."

It was silly to assume that Alya wouldn't approach her about it again. Alya cared fiercely about the both of them, but from her perspective, Marinette wasn't doing anything but lying.

She averted her eyes. "I can't talk about this."

"The hell you can't," Alya replied with a scoff, clearly not believing her there. "I don't—I just don't understand what you're doing, Marinette? I thought you were over him."

Running a frustrated hand through her hair, messing up the tidy ponytail that it had been in, Marinette asked, "What do you expect me to say here? There's—there's a lot more going on than you think is, and I _can't_ tell you."

"And you expect me to just go along with this?" Alya exclaimed, voice starting to echo off the walls. Even though they were alone, she wasn't sure whether they could be heard outside in the hallway. "You're being an idiot!"

She pursed her lips.

Any answer that she gave wouldn't be enough to stop their argument. The realistic options that she had to getting out of it were slim and not that reliable, and the thought of Alya telling Adrien who she was was a terrifying one. With what was going on with his father, if he knew that Marinette was involved afterwards, and was somehow able to look into his eyes during school and pretend nothing was wrong—

She didn't want to think about his reaction.

"You can't tell him, okay?" Marinette said with a sigh, fiddling with her earring. "This... I'll tell him soon, I promise. I just need some time to sort everything out."

"What?" Alya looked incredulous. "Haven't you drawn this out enough? You've been pretending to be Ui for almost a year now."

Valentine's would mark the day that she'd given him her confession, but it wasn't when Ui was born. As much as she would've liked to have gone back to the original date and fixed her blunder, it had led to her getting to know Adrien better with both her identities; she knew more about him than she'd ever thought of knowing, and her feelings for him had only grown steadily.

Their relationship wasn't only for her to keep a secret.

"Ask Adrien about it," Marinette finally said, settling for what she hoped to be a middle-ground. It was putting trust in him to answer her correctly, not to give anything away. "As long as you don't name me specifically, he might tell you what you want to know."

Alya was dubious. "And why would he do that?"

Marinette paused, wondering what exactly she could say. She knew that Adrien wouldn't blurt out that he was dating Ladybug—he barely connected her to that any more, usually talking about mundane topics, other than checking that she was okay, emotionally, after a fight.

"I'm not the one that made Ui up," Marinette admitted. "Just—please, if you trust me, I'll be able to tell you everything soon."

For a moment, she thought Alya was going to just call bullshit and ask for a real answer, but, to her surprise, her friend paused to think it over before asking. "Are you really trying to tell me that he's in on it?"

"He is," she confirmed tentatively, as if expecting Alya to tell her to stop lying immediately. "It's... I know this sounds insane, okay? I'm perfectly aware of that, but I—"

"Is this so his father doesn't find out about you?"

A choked laugh escaped her.

It was just—it was so _simple_. While trying to think of an excuse, some way to make Alya forgive her and not give away her secret, she'd never actually thought of the most obvious one that she could use. It was terribly in character for Adrien to want to hide his girlfriend from his father, one that was so overprotective that he couldn't even walk to school, and to think that he'd make up a fake identity for his girlfriend was so ludicrous that she hadn't even considered it.

The laugh that left her almost sounded like she was wheezing.

Apparently, Alya took that as a confirmation. "You could've just been honest instead of making it sound like it was life or death."

She just continued to laugh, sinking to her knees as she put her face in her hands, shoulders shaking as she took in just how ridiculous the situation was. For some reason, Alya was still believing that she was saying yes to that with her body language, and she jumped when Alya put a hand on her shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting way.

"I won't judge your secret relationship any more," Alya stated, her voice softer than it had been for weeks. "But you really need a better disguise than some contact lenses."

Her eyes were teary from her laughter. "But everyone but you bought it."

Alya clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Well, that's because they're either idiots or had some of the alcohol that was provided."

"There wasn't any—"

"It wasn't there for the whole night, Marinette," Alya chastised. "What kind of irresponsible parents do you think Nino has? They were supervising, of course. It was before you arrived."

If Alya was willing to believe that, she wasn't going to correct her. It didn't cover what they'd been arguing about—when Marinette had said that Adrien didn't know it was her—but that wasn't important in Alya's eyes, apparently.

"Okay," she said, and it came out kind of strangled. "So you... you're not mad at me any more?"

"I wasn't mad," Alya corrected, crossing her arms. "I was disappointed—oh, fuck, I'm starting to sound like I'm your mother."

Standing up and smoothing out her clothing, Marinette had to ask, "Does this mean you're not going to ask him?"

"I won't," Alya stated once more. "Whatever you two are planning, I'm sure you'll tell us all when you're done. Just know that if you were just honest with me, we wouldn't have ignored each other for so long."

She had to point out, "It wasn't completely ignoring—"

"I had to swallow all the witty things I had to say to you, so that definitely counts as ignoring."

It seemed that the confrontation in the school bathroom had done some good for her. Marinette had apologised multiple things, saying it was only for keeping it a secret whenever Alya asked what she was sorry for, but it was all that she could do. All the other apologies weren't explained, and Alya was more than happy to hug her, confessing that she was sorry, too, and that she didn't want to fight again—even if it wasn't really a heated one. There hadn't been any screaming, no tears further than Marinette blinking hers back the first time, but it had resulted in the two of them being frosty with each other, something she didn't want to repeat.

And if it had been resolved because her friend believed she was hiding from her boyfriend's father, she wasn't going to correct the inconsistencies. Alya might've grabbed onto the first explanation that she'd thought of to try and mend their friendship, and she wasn't going to judge her for that.

She wondered if she'd do the same if their positions were reserved.

It was after she'd put her belongings away, walking out the entrance of the school as the day was over, that her phone vibrated in her bag. The alert was sent out throughout the city whenever an attack happened, and Marinette put the device away quickly, ducking into the nearest private place to transform.

It was a public building, but she knew that even if cameras caught her before and after, they wouldn't catch onto her identity by seeing the images side-to-side. To anyone, they wouldn't be able to place her appearance as Ladybug, and it was one of the main things that kept her identity a secret; well, that and her stubbornness.

It was just a shame that she didn't realise that someone else was stubborn, too.

As her bag transformed with her, since it was on her body when she called out for Tikki, it meant that she didn't have to leave her belongings unprotected when she worked. None of her possessions would be left where she was, meaning she wouldn't have to go back to it later, and since she despised crawling out of small windows to try and avoid attracting attention, Marinette often just went through the front door, ignoring the gasps that her appearance brought.

Stepping out of the stall, her mask in place and the dotted suit on, she almost walked straight into someone who was walking through the entrance.

When she saw who it was, she froze for a moment.

"Marinette," Alya started, not looking up immediately, instead seeming to prep herself up for something. "I—"

When Alya glanced up and saw her, lips parting silently, Marinette dumbly raised a hand to wave at her.

"You're not Marinette," she blurted before snapping to attention, quickly jumping to the side as she ushered for her to exit.

Clearing her throat, Marinette offered her a thank you before she left.

The fight wasn't a hard one. Chat already on the scene when she got there, and he more or less had the situation under control. It was just a shame that she was the only one that could undo the damage, or purify the akuma in the first place, otherwise they would've been able to alternate between who was needed.

Then again, even when she'd tentatively pointed out one evening where they were together that she could always try and handle a fight alone if he was busy, Chat had looked so utterly offended that she ended up offering him a hug to apologise for bringing it up. He was committed to being her partner through and through, and promised that the only reason he wouldn't be able to turn up would have to be life-threatening.

His loyalty was heart-warming, and she didn't waste any time assuring him of the same.

She should've realised that other people felt loyal to her, too.

She truly hadn't thought anything of bumping into Alya, too busy wondering whether Chat would be able to acquire the evidence that they needed in the end, thinking about the future, rather than the problems that she had to face at that moment.

Alya was far too smart to take her dumb excuse, and she should've expected that.

When she returned home, she almost tripped over when her father mentioned that Alya was waiting in her room for her. Marinette was ready to use the excuse that she'd been with her class-mates during the attack—but they didn't ask her any more. The only questions were whether she was safe or not, and she didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Had they started to realise that she was lying?

Perhaps, they could've thought that she was reckless like Alya, running out there to try and capture footage of the fights, trying to be the best source of information for others. She knew that her parents worried about her friend, confessing to her some evenings that they dreaded to think that she'd do the same thing, and whenever Alya came round, her father patted her on the shoulder and wished her luck with her dangerous hobbies.

Alya was reckless, yes, and that was why Marinette wanted to keep her out of everything.

Walking up to her bedroom seemed like she was walking to the principal's office, ready to be disciplined. But Alya—Alya couldn't have put the details together, not when she'd tried so hard to keep her away.

Then again, she'd been flaky with the excuses.

Still, she didn't expect Alya's first words to her to be, "You're Ladybug, aren't you?"

Marinette promptly choked on her spit.

Alya had been there, sitting casually on her desk chair as though it was any other day, turning the chair when Marinette entered the room. Then, as Marinette coughed until tears appeared in her eyes, Alya had gotten up and patted her on the back.

It helped when Alya retrieved a bottle of water from her bag, offering it out to her.

Gratefully, Marinette had some before returning it, clearing her throat and pushing the hair out of her eyes as she tried her best to not meet her friend's eyes. "That's a bit insane, isn't it?" Marinette tried to joke, but it came out flat as she tossed her bag aside and sat down on the sofa.

Alya scoffed. "Not as insane as expecting me to believe you're hiding your relationship from Adrien's father."

It should've been obvious that she hadn't believed that. "And because of that, I must be Ladybug?"

"Because you disappeared from a public toilet?" Alya supplied, sitting back down in the chair across the room. The distance between them was a bit bewildering, but Marinette wasn't going to complain about it—she might've felt suffocated if she'd sat down beside her. "I followed you today."

"Listen to yourself," she said, forcing out a half-hearted laugh. "You sound crazy, Alya."

Waving a hand dismissively, Alya pointed out, "It would make sense why you wouldn't want Adrien to know who you are, right?"

"What?" she choked out. "Alya—"

"I'm not an idiot."

"I never said you were!" Marinette defended herself, sure that she looked as stressed as she felt. "But that doesn't mean I'm a fucking superhero because I don't want you to talk to my boyfriend about me."

Alya hummed. "Your boyfriend who doesn't know who you are."

" _Stop_."

"Am I wrong?" Alya asked, raising her voice a little. "It freaking adds up, Marinette. You've never had an akuma in your head, and you've always—you're always _gone_ when there's an attack. I thought, maybe, you were just really scared and didn't want everyone to see you crying or something, but that's not you at all."

It was going so so wrong. There was a reason that she hadn't told anyone, and yet, one trip to a bathroom was causing all of this?

Frustrated, she fiddled with her sleeve, adamantly not looking at her friend. She felt like if she'd show too much if she met Alya's eyes. "You're being ridiculous," she stated. "Me? A superhero? You're just— _no_."

"Tell me I'm wrong," Alya repeated.

Weakly, Marinette shot back, "Tell me why you'd be right."

"Are you asking me to stroke your ego right now?"

A laugh escaped her, and Marinette put her face in her hands, not quite believing how it had happened. She'd thought that they were okay suddenly, that they'd made up for what had happened, but—

"You never believed me earlier, did you?" she questioned, swallowing thickly.

She didn't need to look up to know that Alya probably looked incredulous. "With that bullshit excuse? No, I just wanted to see whether you'd actually cling onto the first thing I said. The whole secret boyfriend thing's a bit insane, Marinette."

"Maybe I am catfishing Adrien Agreste," she muttered, bitter that her ability to lie was apparently faulty. "He's madly in love with this identity I created and it's secretly a scheme for revenge because he never looked at me twice in real life."

A snort came from across the room. "Yeah, sure," Alya said, sounding as though she was going to burst into laughter. "You haven't got the heart to go through with that."

"I'm not saying I _am_ Ladybug, but—"

Alya interrupted her before she could say anything more. "Well, if you are, then I expect to be filled in on everything in a few months."

She blinked, head shooting up to stare at her friend. "What?"

"That's when you said you'd tell me everything, right?" Alya supplied, raising her eyebrows so they were visible above the frames of her spectacles. "And even if you're not Ladybug, I still expect an explanation for your pitiful revenge plan with Adrien."

Anyone else would've been requesting more information, to know what was happening even if she hadn't confirmed it—but with Alya, she'd already felt so guilty for lying already that she didn't trust her ability any more, and yet, her friend was showing how understanding she could be.

As if she was able to know what she was thinking, Alya quipped, "I'm not an idiot, remember?"

She swallowed. "You're not."

Leaning back in the desk chair, Alya mused, "I do expect the first interview after Papillon's caught, however."

"I'm not—"

"It's okay." Alya grinned. "Ladybug seems to like me already, so I'm sure it'll happen either way. This conversation has no influence on what could happen in the future whatsoever."

-x-

Chat's confirmation caused her to sob on the rooftop in the middle of February.

He wasn't in much better condition, and they used the napkins that they'd been given with the food he'd brought along to wipe at their eyes. Marinette hadn't had the stomach to eat anything, not when she'd been anxious to see him all week, and fact that he didn't smile at her when he stepped foot on the rooftop didn't help.

At the last attack, only two had been present in Adrien's home.

"Only—only one's been there for all three so far," Chat admitted, his breath audibly hitching, and he tried to hide his reaction from her by turning his head away. "It's—"

And as he broke off, she was horrified as he quickly lurched to the side, emptying the contents of his stomach beside them. As with her, he'd barely touched his food, meaning that there wasn't much.

Wincing in sympathy, Marinette offered him one of her wet tissues to wipe his mouth, catching his hand before he could wipe it with his glove.

"I'm sorry," she offered, not knowing what else to say.

He accepted it without meeting her eyes. Once he'd crushed the used tissue in his hands with more force than necessary, he sat up, pulling his knees into his chest, resting his chin on the top of them as he whispered, "It has to be my—"

She stiffened as he cut himself off, but didn't call him out on it.

He clenched his eyes shut. "It has to be Gabriel Agreste."

It brought the tears back to her eyes.

For as long as they'd been investigating the home, she wanted it to be anyone else. Maybe a member of staff that had access to the rooms while the family wasn't home, but that wasn't the case. Marinette felt even worse about the thought of going home, to somehow message Adrien with the knowledge that his father had been the one to hurt him so many times, let alone that he'd endangered the entire city for reasons that weren't known to them.

She cried until her eyes hurt, and Chat was there beside her. When she became aware that the sniffs weren't only coming from her again, Marinette shifted herself over until they were touching shoulders, reaching out to remove one of his hands from where he was clutching onto his legs, gently holding it into her own.

The slip that he'd let out and the way he was able to access the security footage surely meant that he was connected, and although she didn't want to think about why, it was surely the reason that he was crying beside her.

They were _fifteen._ Other children were busy with their homework, talking with friends and family without knowing what was going on in the city, and the two of them were the only ones that knew any of it at all.

And that made her feel sick.

"Why—why would he?" she choked out, hastily wiping her eyes with her one free hand, trying to make up for all the napkins that they'd used up already. "It just doesn't... I don't _understand_."

Chat's laugh wasn't genuine. "What's there to understand, Bug? He's a criminal."

It made her angry. Maybe if she didn't know Adrien so well, if, perhaps, she was still pining from sitting behind him, she wouldn't have felt so strong about it. But it was the parent of someone she knew; an adult that was supposed to look after him, to try and provide him a good life, but had been the cause of so many dangerous situations without any visible remorse.

Being so protective didn't make up for abuse in different forms—and, surely, causing Adrien to fall off of a high building surely counted as that. It wasn't a little bruise from causing him to fall over—that she could make disappear when the akuma was dealt with—and the amount of akumas that had given powers to others, to the ones that had felt wronged by something that Adrien had done, wasn't something forgivable.

"But _why_?" she asked, not quite expecting an answer. If anything, she was just venting at that point, trying to get her emotions out before she cried into her pillow when she got home. "Even if his wife's missing, it doesn't give him any reason to go on a fucking rampage through the city."

Chat's hand squeezed hers. "You think his wife is missing?"

"That's what his son thinks," Marinette stuttered out, wiping at her eyes again. "And if he says that, I trust him."

It didn't occur to her at that moment that she shouldn't admit to knowing anyone personally. Her emotions were a bit haywire, all over the place, and easily triggered from the constantly flowing tear ducts, but at least she wasn't alone with that. Chat wasn't faring much better, but most of their eyes were hidden, meaning their red eyes weren't on display.

"You must really trust him."

It was understandable that she took his comment the wrong way.

"Don't," Marinette whispered, pulling her hand away from his without any warning. "Just—just because his father's messed up doesn't mean—"

"I wasn't!" he quickly interjected, turning to look at her, rapidly shaking his head to try and get her attention. Reaching out, he clasped the hand she'd taken away with both of his, the movement gentle and not at all aggressive. "I didn't mean it like that, okay?"

She sniffed, and the sound seemed pathetic even to her. "I'm sorry." Her voice came out a bit hollow. "I'm just... I'm really overwhelmed right now."

"Then, I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do." The smile on his lips didn't meet his eyes. "Try not to freak out too much."

Uncertain, she tried to say, "What—"

"Wait," Chat interrupted, breathing out an audible sigh. "I need to be smart about this."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Marinette replied, slowly taking her hand away, looking at him warily. "What more is there left to say?"

He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous tick that she was well acquainted with. "It's something that I just... I really need to get it off my chest, especially after what we just uncovered."

She swallowed. "I don't know—"

"Of all the times I thought of telling you, I never really thought it would happen like this," Chat continued, his voice as soft as the look in his eyes as he gazed at her. "Just... I don't know, try not to hit me, I guess?"

Feeling a bit wary from what his words were hinting at, Marinette shook her head almost frantically. "I'd never hit you!"

"You might." The smile didn't reach his eyes. "You are a bit reckless when your feelings are involved, Ui."

She was glad that she wasn't holding his hand any more, otherwise she would've squeezed in from her surprise. "I—what?"

"Ui Tsukino," Chat said clearly, pronouncing each syllable carefully. "I kinda wish you really did have an aunt called Nami so I could stay at her house. It's not like I can go back to my own after tonight without being scared out of my mind."

There was only one explanation for him being able to say all of that, and it just caused tears to well up in her eyes again. A disbelieving laugh escaped her as she hastily wiped away the tears, caught between being incredulous and sort of giddy, her feelings all over the place. From finding out their main suspect—he wasn't even a suspect any more, not really—to a reveal that Chat had been actively hiding his identity as well as she had, Marinette wasn't quite sure how to process anything.

So, when she was wrapped into a hug, she returned it fully, winding her arms around his waist and burying her face in the junction between his neck and shoulder, aware that his suit didn't smell of anything—then again, why would it? Hers didn't absorb smells either, and it wasn't as though they sweat whenever they were running—

"Sorry for just springing this on you," he interrupted her thoughts, and she could feel it as he spoke. "If it helps, it was a bit weird trying to be jealous of myself when we were talking."

She'd never really considered it, really. The past few weeks, she'd been far too busy with the possibility that someone close to Adrien could be Papillon to fully consider how close Chat had been to all of it. She'd hoped for him being a friend of Adrien, maybe, but it was common knowledge, that any of her class-mates would've known, that his father didn't allow any of his friends to his home.

She sniffed loudly. "You're an idiot."

"An idiot that really needs somewhere to sleep," he said, a weak laugh escaping him. It wasn't the joyful sound that she was used it; it was a bit hollow, clearly portraying his emotions.

As much as she wanted to be happy about her best friend turning out to be her boyfriend, someone else that she trusted beyond belief, it was just too exhausting to know how to feel. She couldn't work up the energy to even reprimand him for revealing it at all in the first place, even though she knew that he had a good argument for not wanting to return to his house.

"You can't just not go home," she replied, trying to think rationally. "He'd send out a fucking search party for you if he ever realised that you were gone."

A sigh came form him, and she felt his chin resting on the top of her head as he shifted to get more comfortable with her practically draped across him. "I can edit the security tapes, remember?"

"But—"

"I've been sneaking out for years," Chat pointed out, and she realised that she really had to comprehend that he was Adrien, not two different identities. "As long as I'm in my bed when I'm supposed to be woken up for breakfast, no one will think twice about it."

Of all the things she'd known about Adrien, she'd never really questioned how he'd been able to sneak out his house before. Maybe it was just blind trust since he'd never admitted that he'd hurt himself doing so, or she didn't want to know the answer; but knowing that he was Chat when the time called for it answered a lot about him.

Such as why she was so fond of him.

Still, it was a bit hard to connect the person she had feelings for to her best friend. Knowing that they were same, and that she'd seen him more than just twice in her identity as Ui with him knowing she was Ladybug since they'd started dating, didn't make it perfectly okay. There was adjustment that needed to be done, and she was sure that she wouldn't be able to hold his hand in a different way than when they comforted each other.

She pursed her lips. "It still sounds too reckless."

"I'm not even going to pretend that I haven't stayed up all night just to brood on the streets before," Adrien admitted. "But in my defence, that was in our first year. It's practically a rite of passage when you're a superhero, right?"

She snorted. "I've never done it."

"That's because you're the good in our relationship," he joked, but the laughter that followed sounded half-hearted. "Just—I know we can't deal with this today, but I really don't know what I'll do if I have to go back to that home right now."

Even though he'd revealed who he was, Marinette wasn't sure whether revealing everything about herself would be wise. Though, it was a relief that Adrien had a means of defending himself, but that didn't mean that she wanted him to _use_ it.

Sitting upright and removing her arms from around his waist, Marinette looked into his green-coloured eyes as she asked, "Are you absolutely sure you won't get into trouble for it?"

"I promise I won't," he assured her. "Besides, I've been in your room before. Your sofa looks comfy enough to sleep on."

She stilled. "What?"

"Oh," he paused, staring right back at her before he cracked a lopsided smile at her bewildered expression. "I'm sorry?"

Marinette moved her hands in time with her words as she spluttered, "But I—you _can't—_ "

"I kind of figured it out after our first date?" It came out sounding like a question. "I know, I know, I shouldn't have but... I didn't mean to. It just clicked when I realised why you kept avoiding me at school, and it wasn't like you ever tried to really hide your voice."

Remembering that Alya had used the last argument that figure out that she was Ui, she groaned and pushed her fringe out of her face. "You heard it one time," she muttered, sure that it was portraying her bitterness.

"Hey, no need to beat yourself up over it," he answered softly, taking her hand into his own and linking their fingers together. "There's a reason why no one's able to figure out who we are normally."

She snorted. "Yeah, magic."

"Yes, well," Adrien started, his smile reaching his eyes. "The only magic present when we're not disguised are the feelings I have for you."

"That's—" Marinette tried to say, bursting into laughter as she gently pushed him away by his shoulder. "You don't get to say terrible things like that!"

Dramatically, he let go of her as he fell down onto his side, letting out an exaggerated noise. "But I've been doing it for years," Adrien gasped out, pressing the back of his hand onto his forehead, trying to look like the cliché picture of a damsel in distress. "You can't suddenly hurt me like this, Bug."

She sighed. "You never should've listened to Nino's advice to show me how much of a dork you are."

His showed her a toothy grin. "But it worked, didn't it?"

"I regret everything."

-x-

There wasn't a fight filled with violence that could only be won by the assistance of their magical weapons. It wasn't packed with action, nor was it in front of the public eyes and reported throughout the city, no; rather, it was within Gabriel Agreste's office that the confrontation happened.

Adrien really had slept on her sofa the night where they got confirmation for their suspicions. Neither of them were ready to share a bed with each other, and she had more than enough cushions and blankets to offer him that it didn't matter that he wasn't underneath her duvet.

He'd dropped the transformation in her bedroom, and when she did the same, they just stared at each other for a little. Then, within the silence, their lips curled into matching smiles before she burst into laughter, still not quite believing how the situation had turned out.

While her kwami preferred feminine pronouns, his liked the opposite. Plagg was the black to Tikki's red—to which she accidentally blurted out through her giggles—and while Tikki was energetic, Plagg was a bit grumpy, but the way he immediately floated towards Tikki was telling of their relationship.

She should've expected that Chat's kwami would have cat ears, but she hadn't thought about just how adorable she'd find him. Adrien rolled his eyes at her reaction, and the smug look that Plagg sent him when Marinette held him in her hands—a happy noise escaping her as he preened from the attention—showed that they were on good terms, too.

In the morning, when Marinette was startled awake by the alarm that she'd set, almost falling off her bed from the surprise, they had a brief discussion on what their plan was before Adrien had to leave.

They were both exhausted, and Marinette was sure that Adrien's eyes were as sore as her own, but they decided not to wait any longer to approach his father. They couldn't, not when they knew who was behind the attacks, and Adrien confessed that he really wouldn't feel comfortable in his home.

He avoided looking in her eyes as he said that.

There was more that needed to be said, to try and air the questions between them, but neither was up for it. Instead, Marinette signed into the instant messenger on her phone for the first time, bringing up her conversation with Adrien to plan what they were doing.

Even if they hadn't been together a few hours earlier, his typing would've given away that something was wrong.

While they were planning, he reminded her that he still left his bedroom window open due to the heating.

With a quick good-bye to her parents, blurting out that she was going to visit a friend, her journey to Adrien's home was filled with the sound of her fast-beating heart echoing in her head. No matter how hard she tried, she could only think of the worst possible outcomes, all of which were highly unrealistic—or, at least, she hoped they were.

It was unknown what would happen when they were dealing with a supervillain.

It was just—when Marinette had thought about Papillon before, she'd never thought of them as a father. She'd stuck to thinking that they were genderless from lack of information, not knowing what to think of them at all, and to find out that he was a neglectful would-be widower didn't make her feel any pity for him. There wasn't any time to pity a man that had messed up so many lives in his pursuit for his secretive whims.

They'd never been told what would happen when someone possessed more than one miraculous, but that was all they knew that Papillon wanted. It was the reason he'd corrupted countless innocent civilians, sending the newly-created villains after them in an attempt to get their hands on a miraculous, either just one or both of them.

Two years of causing terror, facing the public as though he'd done nothing wrong, and steadily pushing Adrien away. Hell, she _knew_ that he'd forbidden his son from watching specific films, only because they featured his dead (or missing) wife in them.

It made her angry.

Getting through Adrien's window was easy. It wasn't the most difficult move that she'd had to pull off over the years, and she landed with much more grace than she'd had in the beginning.

Adrien was sat on a couch in the middle of the room, fiddling with his phone before he looked up at the sound of her feet hitting the floor.

The situation was made so much more real from the hesitant smile that appeared on his lips.

As much as she wanted to just _cry_ , to scream that it was unfair, and that they shouldn't have been the ones to deal with all of it, she wanted to try and be strong for him. They'd given into their emotions the night before, and they needed to put on brave faces.

"Hey," she greeted, her voice cracking. "Ready to go, partner?"

Seeing him transform in a blink of an eye was a strange experience. She wondered whether her own would cause the same reaction to anyone that could see her.

They didn't say much. When Adrien turned to face her, the black-coloured mask fitted snugly and covering his eyelids and most of his nose, the smile didn't reach his eyes, and she was sure that hers didn't either.

He offered his hand out to her, and she took it, squeezing to try and express what she was feeling before they started towards his bedroom door.

As with all their other plans, it wasn't thought out properly. It relied on coincidences, their hope that nothing would go wrong, and the whole time they walked through the hallway, her footsteps felt heavy. Her eyes were itchy, and she was blinking rapidly to try and stop before from succumbing to what she was feeling—she needed to be strong, she'd repeated that countless times in the mirror that morning, but when they stopped in front of Gabriel Agreste's office, she felt anything but.

Adrien squeezed her hand right back before he let it go in an attempt to look more professional.

She did much the same, choosing to smooth out her hair instead. There was an unspoken agreement between them not to tackle all the emotions at that moment; they needed to try and be level-headed, not act out and appear like the teenagers they really were.

They weren't trained for that.

"On three?" she asked quietly.

She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye.

They didn't burst open the door and go charging in. It wasn't a scene from an action film, not at all. Adrien knew that his father would be working on some documents, a few hours that he set aside every Sunday to sort through before he used to sit through an awkward lunch with his son, but that had fell apart a few months ago, back when the rift between them was becoming more pronounced.

Gabriel didn't even look up when they walked into the room. He continued scribbling away on the papers in front of him, sitting in a desk chair with his preferred style of suit on, looking every bit as pristine as he usually did.

Idly, she realised the only time she'd seen him appear frazzled was when he'd been his own victim.

Adrien cleared his throat.

Gabriel didn't jump, but he did look a bit startled as he lifted his head up to see them. Squinting a little, he pushed his spectacles further up the bridge of his nose, the polite smile across his thin lips anything but genuine. "Ladybug and Chat Noir," he started, drawing out the syllables of their names. "What do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning?"

Beside her, Adrien's shoulders tensed, clearly signifying his feelings on that greeting.

Marinette lifted her hand up and rested it on his shoulder, in what she hoped to be a comforting way, as she returned the polite smile to Gabriel with more confidence than she'd thought she had. "I apologise for our sudden appearance, Mister Agreste," she offered, wondering whether her voice was coming across flatly. "A member of staff was kind enough to escort us to where we could find you."

"Indeed?" He raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't aware many were working this morning."

"I apologise," she repeated, her smile tight. "It was your son, but he mentioned that you wouldn't be happy that he'd handled who's allowed inside your home. I'm afraid it's quite urgent, so we convinced him to risk your disapproval."

The tension didn't leave Adrien's stance.

With pale blond hair, light enough to blend in with any grey hairs that might've come through due to his age, Gabriel Agreste was an imposing figure. From his success, his tall height, and the thinness that made his cheeks appear gaunt, none of his features made him appear friendly.

Gabriel settled down the pen on the desk. "It's not a secret that he has quite a soft spot for you two," he settled with saying. "However, I am rather curious of how I could possibly be of assistance to you two. It's not every day that someone welcomes to superheroes into their home, is it?"

"Yes, we understand that this must be quite confusing," Marinette replied, reaching down to collect her bandalore from her waist, not looking away from his gaze. "There happens to be something that only you can help us with."

His smile still didn't seem genuine as he drawled out, "And what might that be?"

Adrien hadn't spoken yet, and she was almost afraid to look at his expression, choosing instead to try and take control of the situation. Marinette opened up her weapon, lighting up the screen as she pulled up the first picture that they'd found on social media.

"You see," she began as she crossed the room to stand in front of his desk, footsteps seeming to echo in the room. When she was close, stopping before her thighs connected with the wood, it was hard to ignore how lanky Gabriel Agreste was, even when he was stiffly sat down in an office chair. "A picture came to our attention recently, and we figured it would be wise to talk to the owner of the home first."

The lines around his eyes were tight as she turned the bandalore around, keeping her grip tight as he gazed down at the screen.

Clearing his throat, Gabriel leaned back in his chair, a hand surely resting on top of one of his thighs as he stated, "I do not understand your reason for approach me."

"This is your window," Marinette bluntly answered as he closed the screen, keeping the weapon clutched in her hand. "It would be highly beneficial to us if you could tell us who had access to that level of your home."

"I'm afraid my home only has three stories," he replied without missing a beat. "The window you're referring to is purely for decoration only. There is no way to open it."

The footsteps were what warned her that Adrien was coming to stand beside her. He rested his hands on the desk, either leaning onto it for support or for an intimidation tactic, and there was denying the coldness of his voice that stated, "We have further evidence of it opening."

"And what will any of that accomplish?" Gabriel sharply questioned. "I do not appreciate you two coming into my home and accusing me of this, no matter who you are."

"Accusing?" she whispered, swallowing audibly. "There's no accusations here, Mister Agreste. We're merely conducting an investigation to see whether you're unknowingly harbouring a villain in your home."

He pursed his lips. "And why would I cooperate with such ridiculousness?"

Adrien spoke up to state, "It would be terrible for your image if our suspicions got out, wouldn't it?"

A feeling of prided swelled within her chest, but she still didn't turn to the side to take in Adrien's expression. The fact that he'd worked up the confidence to confront his father was amazing as it was, and she didn't want to break any of the resolve he had by offering him a shaky smile.

"We'll cut to the chase, Mister Agreste," Adrien continued. There hadn't been any hesitation with how he was addressing him, no indication that he'd wanted to say anything else. "We've narrowed down a list of suspects, all of which have been present in your home for the past three attacks."

Gabriel's eyes flickered between them, the stoic expression not revealing how he truly felt. Marinette felt as though out of the three of them, she was the only one that wasn't used to schooling her features to try and appear serious often.

"Have you now?" Gabriel murmured, placing one elbow on the arm of his chair, resting his chin on his open palm. It looked a lot more refined than she felt whenever she slouched. "And why are you only coming forward now with such information?"

It didn't even seem like he was bothered by their words. To the city, they weren't just teenagers that had to deal with the unfortunate situations, but that's certainly what she felt like at that moment.

She swallowed. "Let's stop playing around, shall we?"

"Oh?" Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "I'm assuming you wish to have access to my security cameras, yes?"

She was able to see as Adrien's gaze flickered to her, from the corner of her eyes, before he focused back on his father. "No, thank you," he coolly replied. "We were able to get all the footage we needed from nearby buildings. Unless you want to admit who has access to that window up above, your helpfulness isn't why we're here."

"That almost sounds like a threat at the end, Chat Noir."

Her grip on her bandalore became tighter. "When you moved into your home, was the window already there?"

"It was," he confirmed casually, and she doubted his heartbeat matched her racing one. "All the renovations on my home are recorded in a folder somewhere, if you wish to take a look. Unfortunately, it'll only show you the floors that you're able to actually reach."

"Mister Agreste," she said, unsure whether she'd snapped at him or not. "With all due respect, we're not idiots. The window in question is fully functional, which means either you're lying to us, or there's device somewhere that can control it."

His polite smile didn't reach his eyes. "You're welcome to look for a staircase to access it, but I assure you, you won't find be able to reach it."

"You don't seem very worried about Papillon being in your home," Adrien pointed out.

Gabriel eyes flickered over to him. "Are you suggesting I had prior knowledge of this?"

Adrien bristled. "I'm not suggesting anything."

Sensing that he was starting to let his emotions show, Marinette took a step closer to him, gently putting her hand on his arm for a moment, trying to show her support.

It was ridiculous that they had to be the ones to deal with it. Even if they'd gone to the police with their evidence—circumstantial, as only she and Adrien had knowledge from their kwamis, and they weren't ready to share their existence—she doubted that they would believe them. Gabriel Agreste was a public figure, famous for his fashion line, and that had extended to Adrien, who'd started modelling for his father's brand just before he became a teenager.

She couldn't imagine what it felt like to have to face her father, knowing the crimes that he'd committed.

"Mister Agreste," Marinette called, trying to get his attention away from her partner. "Are you not satisfied with having just one miraculous?"

Gabriel sat up straight, no longer nonchalantly resting his face on his hand. "I do not appreciate these accusations."

"Is one not enough?" she reiterated, voice growing louder, echoing much like her footsteps had. Adrien had assured her that not many would be present in his home at the time that they were arriving, so they didn't have to worry about anyone overhearing them for a while. "You've endangered so many lives because of your greed and carelessness. You can't have expected to continue on with this forever."

Swiftly standing up—perhaps trying to appear intimidating by towering over them, his lanky form one that wasn't rivalled by many—Gabriel smoothed out any wrinkles from his trousers. "I'll have you escorted out if you continue such nonsense."

He wasn't taking them seriously.

"Nonsense?" Adrien parroted, the word sounding hollow. "You've hurt so many people and you have the nerve to call this nonsense?"

"You're accusing me without any solid proof," Gabriel tartly replied. "Surely, you can't expect anyone to believe you? That's clearly why you've come to me alone, rather than taking your suspicions to the police."

It had been built on a suspicion in the beginning, but that had changed when Marinette had seen another akuma flutter through the window. "Do you not have any remorse for what you're doing?"

"I haven't done _anything_." The last word was stressed, the emphasis clear. "There is nothing that has happened that you haven't been able to undo with your powers. And yet, you seem to think I'm the one that caused them due to a window?"

Even though victims couldn't remember what had happened when they were infected, it didn't mean that everything was okay. She couldn't heal the holes in their memories, or the awful feeling that poured over them when they realised what had happened—even if she and Adrien were there, trying to soothe them and say it was okay, in the short few minutes that they had before their transformations dropped, it wasn't something that she could just forget about.

"A functional window that has had _three_ akumas being released through it?" Adrien shot back, his pronunciation of the number sharp. "Yes, we thought it was suspicious. Imagine our surprise when we found out that only you were present for all of the attacks."

"That means nothing."

"Doesn't it?" Marinette responded, crossing her arms, the bandalore still clutched tightly in one of her gloved hands. "We didn't involve the police because they're not exactly capable of fighting akumas normally, are they?"

Gabriel asked, "Are you not going to put me on trial?"

"We're not the law," Adrien pointed out, a hand reaching behind his back to rest on his baton.

The threat was clear, and from the way Gabriel's eyes tightened. "Juvenile threats won't inspire a false confession."

"We're still not threatening you, Mister Agreste," Marinette interjected, resisting the urge to clench her hands into fists. "We're giving you the chance to admit what we already know."

There was a moment of silence, the atmosphere in the room stifling, and she could hear the echo of her nervous heartbeat in her head. She'd never thought that they'd have to confront Papillon with words—but then again, it had been hard to imagine them as a man in the first place. Someone with a family, friends that trusted them, and the support of more than a city due to his job.

Gabriel's expression was cold. "Do you think anyone will believe your claims of proof?"

"Even if they don't—"

"I am not a supervillain, unlike what you seem to believe," he stated, leaning forward and resting his hands on the desk, mirroring the posture that Adrien had taken what seemed like minutes ago. "Do you really think I'd plead guilty just because of you two walking in here? Even if you publicly accuse me, no one will believe you."

She pursed her lips.

Adrien, however, wasn't silent. "Are you that confident that no one will see our side?"

"Who would?" he replied, and it came across as rhetorical. "I am a good man. Accusing me will get you nowhere."

Marinette quietly pointed out, "You don't seem all too bothered with trying to prove us wrong."

"There is no need to," Gabriel answered. "The ceiling of the floor below covers the area you're referring to, so, unless you miraculously find a secret staircase to gain access to that window, you're out of luck."

The fact that he'd offered to allow them to see the records of the changes to his home meant they wouldn't have any success there. There was also the chance that a renovation was done and the workers were paid off so it wouldn't appear on their records—but that sounded like the sort of thing that would only happen in fiction. Then again, just the thought of superheroes and villains was the same thing.

Frustrated, she gripped her bandalore tighter, the weapon resting against her thigh. "Do you have no conscience?"

"The same will be said to you if you ever announce your suspicions."

Beside her, Adrien heatedly retorted, "If there's another attack—"

"Unfortunately," Gabriel interrupted, his icy gaze flickering towards his son and focusing on him, rather than staring her down. "You two aren't the type to harm civilians; which I very much am, and always will be. Your threats towards me hold no meaning."

The whole encounter had been cold, the only warmth being in her eyes from her anger that was building up. Gabriel had kept his cool the whole time, not seeming to be worried about their words at all, as though he was just dealing with children—but he didn't _know_ that. Perhaps, his job had him dealing with similar sharp words, but that wouldn't explain the lack of emotion that he was showing.

It wasn't something that would just develop. Committing crimes wouldn't make him heartless—it would've been there already, festering inside, and only just being shown on the outside.

Her voice was soft as she asked, "You truly don't feel guilty about anything you've done, do you?"

His gaze turned back to her as he stood up straight, causing her to tilt her head upstairs to look into his eyes clearly. "I have done nothing wrong," he coolly replied.

She blinked rapidly.

"You've hurt people," Marinette whispered, unsure whether her voice was shaking or not. "You—your own _son_. What could possibly be worth hurting him? Endangering him?"

The expression she was on the receiving end of could only be described as a glower. "I have never raised a hand to my son."

Her stomach clenched uncomfortably, mouth growing dry as she became aware of how close she was to vomiting from the nerves. She could barely handle test days, but to stare Papillon in the face, to see that he could look them in the eyes and not outwardly regret anything he'd done was hard to stomach, truly.

He was the type of villain that she'd loved to read about; the ones that didn't monologue and gloat, instead keeping all the information to themselves.

At that moment, she'd never hated his type more than she did as she returned his cold stare.

"Maybe not," Adrien said from beside her, almost startling her from the sudden end to the stifling silence. "But you've hardly acted as a father should."

As Gabriel frowned, the lines on his forehead grew more pronounced. "You have no right to question my parenting skills after—"

"Question?" he echoed, incredulous. "You— _you've_ —"

"Perhaps, you should come back when you're coherent enough to make a full sentence," Gabriel interrupted, smoothing out his jacket, appearing as though they were talking about anything other than an important topic. "There's no use making empty threats when you follow them up with babbling."

Beside her, Adrien stiffened, his hands curling into fists, and for a terrifying moment, she really thought that he was about to surge forward and punch his father. But he'd never shown any indication to being violent before, not even when he was upset with her on the roof.

Closing his eyes, Adrien let out an audible breath, and she took a step closer to him.

"Do you really think no one will believe us?" Adrien questioned, the rage that she'd witnessed in him not present in his voice. It was eerily similar to the blank tone that Gabriel had been using.

The appraising look they received wasn't flattering. "No."

"Not even your own son?"

The sharp breath that was sucked in was from her, no one else.

A flat laugh escaped Gabriel. "My son?" he repeated, a smile that stretched across his lips anything but friendly. "Do you truly think you'll be able to corrupt my son against me?"

"Against you?" Marinette echoed, staring up at him. "There's no one standing with you, Papillon. In all the time you've been active, have you even seen a group rallying to support you?"

He pursed his lips, noticing the change in the way she was addressing him.

Even though she was little compared to him—in size, age, and confidence at dealing with life—she wasn't going to let him push her aside. While it was true that if they were to publicly announce that he was Papillon, no one would believe them without actually being able to witness it. Which, unfortunately, he was too intelligent for.

There was no risk of being caught for him when he transformed in his own home, no danger of a friend wandering after him into a public bathroom, simply wanting to talk.

He hadn't explicitly admitted that he was Papillon, but his actions spoke louder than words. His reactions hadn't been one of an innocent man, and she doubted that they ever would be.

"No, you haven't," she finished when it became clear that he wasn't going to answer. "If you make us fight you, any wounds you sustain will be permanent without one of your akumas present."

Adrien chimed in, "Unless you're willing to infect yourself again. I bet that was fun for you before, right?"

Gabriel's gaze flickered between the two of them as he announced, "I am growing tired of your presence."

"I've been fed up with you for two years," Adrien shot back childishly. "Either give up your miraculous willingly, or we'll have to resort to using force. It's two against one, and there's no one in this home that you can send your akuma off to find."

That was a lie and everyone in the room knew it. There were a few members of staff present, as Adrien had explained to her earlier before, and from what Gabriel knew, his son was in his bedroom, blissfully unaware of the confrontation.

"You'd attack an innocent man in his own home?" Gabriel questioned, haughtily raising his chin as he stared at Adrien. "What will you do if my son hears?"

She clenched her teeth together harshly.

Adrien's reaction was a lot more vocal than her own. "It's not like you have a problem of him being in danger, is it?"

"I have _never—_ "

"Stop lying to us!" Adrien practically shouted, his voice echoing, and the hand that wasn't holding onto his baton being raised in the air to emphasise his words (a habit that he did often, no matter the situation, apparently). "Just— _fuck_. It's not like we're recording you or anything, so stop talking in riddles. Everyone in this room knows that you're Papillon."

For someone that had caused their child to get hurt, he was still insistent that he'd never directly caused him harm. Maybe, he thought that since it wasn't by his own hand—only caused by the akumas—that he wasn't responsible for what had happened. Marinette didn't know how to feel if that truly was his trail of thought, but she disapproved of it, nonetheless.

Gabriel Agreste had slowly grown more absent to Adrien, being difficult whenever they spoke, and had started to disappear for meals, leaving Adrien to use his phone for company while he ate. He was the same man that had slowly tried to erase his wife after his disappearance—or death—and had started to neglect his son because of it.

"A confession will change nothing," Gabriel drawled, using his index fingers to push his spectacles further up his nose. "You're clearly expecting something that will never happen—without solid proof, you can't change anything."

Marinette started, "You can't—"

"I can't?" he parroted, smile not reaching his eyes. "You're forgetting that you're not the law. Unless you're willing to publicly accuse or attack an innocent man, all of which will only disgrace the both of you, there's nothing you can do to me."

They didn't even known where he kept his miraculous, or even how he got to his preferred window to let the butterflies fly freely. There was nothing that they could prove; even if they found a hidden entrance, no matter how ridiculous that thought was, surely he wasn't restricted to only using his powers in one room.

Telling their suspicions to police wouldn't help catch him. Even if they witnessed a butterfly escaping with their own eyes, they didn't understand the dynamics of a miraculous—Marinette wasn't about to blurt out such an old secret, to try and explain about kwamis and their powers, just to try and get Papillon to confess.

If her gloves weren't there, she was sure she would've had scratches on her palms from how tight she was clenching her fists.

"Maybe not," Adrien spoke softly from beside her as he placed his baton back on him, free hands hidden behind his back. "But there's something I can take away from you."

Her lips parted, but no sound escaped as he took a step back.

The words that left his lips prompted his transformation to fall, the particles of black hovering before they disappeared, and she was relieved to see that Plagg was being smart, staying hidden behind him.

It was reckless, something that even she had never considered, but that was because of identity held no meaning to Gabriel Agreste. To him, she was his son's friend that he'd seen once or twice, someone that he'd never really given any consideration towards.

A choked noise came from the adult in front of them, and she turned her gaze back, taking in the paleness of his skin and the way he was staring, dumbfounded, at his son. "No—"

"Hello, Father," Adrien greeted, the quivering in his voice telling of his emotions, "or would you prefer Papillon?"

-x-

There was no arrest.

When they left, they hadn't gained another miraculous, and the only thing they collected was a bag filled with Adrien's belongings for him. As Gabriel had mentioned, they had no power over him; the few threats that they'd uttered had been useless, considering neither of them wanted to attack him when he could confess his innocence and make it so they were the bad ones in the situation.

After Gabriel had seen his son, any words he'd been about to say died. He'd just stared at his son, and Adrien had defiantly stood opposite him, not addressing him in the usual way that it would. Any claims that he hadn't harmed his son, and that he would never do such a thing, had died as soon as he'd seen Adrien.

Marinette hadn't missed the way his eyes flickered down to Adrien's hand before going back to his face.

Neither of them knew whether he'd suspected it beforehand. Afterwards, when Marinette had hastily convinced him to transform into Chat again so she wouldn't be seen carrying Adrien Agreste across the city, they had their suspicions that Gabriel had had an inkling, considering how quick his eyes had sought out Adrien's miraculous.

Adrien wasn't up for talking, and she completely understood that.

When staring down his father, Adrien hadn't faltered. He'd stated that he wouldn't be home for the foreseeable future, and any attempts at trying to get him to come home would result in him leaving, to which he raised his hand, causing his ring to glint in the light to make his meaning clear.

Papillon made no moves towards them. He was still around the other side of the desk, emotions clear on his expression for the first time since they'd entered. Although Marinette couldn't identify them, the choked noise that had escaped when he'd seen Adrien had been answer enough.

As soon as they'd made it to Adrien's bedroom, with Marinette trying to put a chair against the doorknob, like she'd seen in films (which she didn't know if it would work or not), as she'd decided to take control when she saw the way his eyes had started to water.

She messaged Nino, pretending to be Adrien, and asked whether he could stay over for the next few days since his father was going out of town. The reply had came by the time they'd arrived at Marinette's home, and Adrien slipped into her bedroom through the balcony while Marinette took a small detour to greet her parents before making her way up.

There wasn't much talking.

Silently, she offered him a box of tissues, and he gratefully accepted them. He wasn't trying to hide his tears, refusing to tell her about them as he'd done so in the past, and she was more than aware of the way her eyes felt itchy from the warning of incoming tears.

There wasn't much that she could say. Offering condolences didn't seem right, not when Gabriel Agreste was still sitting in his home, not in any more more suspected than he'd been earlier that day. Adrien talking back to his father was one thing—him standing up for himself, something that he often didn't do—but for her to even think of the two of them fighting was terrifying.

She didn't want to cause that.

The damage to their relationship was already done, but any physical violence between them would be too much to handle. It was a lot different to exchanged words, the cold stares she and Adrien had received, but there had to be more of it in the future.

Having access to the security camera footage was okay—Adrien had packed the device along with his clothing, and had given it to her immediately—but even if they showed someone it, there was still doubt. She didn't think they had enough influence to convince law enforcement to lock Gabriel up, if only to prove that there wouldn't be any attacks after it.

It didn't help that the time between the attacks were never consistent. They didn't happen early in the morning, or too late in the night, but that just showed that Papillon was human, and probably had things to do in his normal life—well, they knew that, for sure, but that didn't mean they could stalk him every single day to see when he had a break, just to prevent any disasters from happening.

Stalking was definitely illegal.

Plagg's version of comforting his holder wasn't like Tikki's kind words. Instead, it was actions as he floated around Adrien's head before settling himself in the blond hair, peering over the top to see whether Adrien had stopped crying.

As her parents were working in the shop, Tikki came down with her to the kitchen to fetch some food, as they'd been too nervous to eat breakfast. When Marinette asked her whether she'd known Adrien's identity, her kwami just giggled, a soft sound that was sweeter than most of the things she'd heard that day.

It wasn't from glimpsing him, however. Tikki explained that since her and Plagg were considered a set, that they were made to work together, that they were able to sense each other.

Sadly, that didn't extend to any of the other kwamis. The whole collection hadn't been used for decades, perhaps more than that from how erased it had been from their history, which meant that neither kwami could accurately describe what they were looking for.

Then there was the fact that the true appearance was hidden when a miraculous holder had it on their body; like Marinette's earrings fading to black, looking completely normal.

It was frustrating.

"There's nothing we can do," Marinette softly broke the silence, roughly running a hand through her hair as she leaned back on her sofa. "I—I don't know what I expected, really."

A wet laugh came from Adrien, who was sitting in front of her on the floor. He'd claimed one of the blankets he'd slept with from the previous night, wrapping it around himself as a sort of cocoon. "For him to have a soul? Fat chance of that, sorry."

It was just so messed up.

She hadn't realised she'd said that aloud until he replied, "At least we tried."

But what use was it? For all those weeks where she'd camped out behind the home, staring and waiting for the windows to open, sat on the roof instead of spending her time on other things; her grades had surely fallen, her friendships had dwindled a bit from her lack of replies to their messages, and—

She stilled.

"There is..." Marinette trailed off, not quite sure how to word it. "There's someone that might believe us, if it's coming from me."

He let out a sigh. "What good is belief if we can't actually do _anything_?"

"They could post it online."

"For people to laugh at?" He snorted. "It would just be called another conspiracy theory, just like everything else. Even if we said it ourselves, we're nothing without actual proof, and Papillon will never come out of his fucking house."

She pursed her lips.

Adrien shifted closer to her, and the sight of him bundled up in a blanket and awkwardly shuffling towards her would've been amusing on any other day. "I'd offer to send Plagg in to stalk him, but I don't think we can get a camera small enough for him to actually hold comfortably."

The image made her laugh, but it just came out like a sob. "We've really messed up, haven't we?"

"Messed up?" Adrien echoed, shaking his head and causing his hair to be in even more of a disarray. "There's nothing else we could've done, unless you really want to start beating a non-akuma up. I don't want you to have that on your conscience."

She didn't want him hating his own father, but she couldn't prevent that.

The hours passed, and with a few messages, Marinette had confirmed that Adrien had a place to stay at Nino's for the upcoming days. The excuse that his father was away on business was questionable as it was—as Adrien had never left home when that had been the case before—but it was the best that they could come up with.

They could only hope that Gabriel wouldn't attempt to bring him home.

Rather than discussing the future, they focused on the present. Adrien transformed when the sun had already set, pulling her into a tight hug and promising that he'd text when he had the chance.

Her eyes had already started to water when he jumped off of her balcony.

Of all the smart things she could've done, how she could've handled everything that was going on, Marinette to throw caution to the wind when she left her home after her parents had gone to bed. Tikki hid in her bag when she transformed back, tucked away where no one could see her, and she had to wonder how Gabriel was able to hide his in his daily life.

His miraculous had to be something that he kept on him constantly—or, perhaps, he only touched it when he had the intention of releasing an akuma, which would complicate things. She knew he preferred to wear suits, smart clothing even when he was walking around his home, but that didn't narrow down the selection.

A miraculous was always an accessory, but she hadn't spied him wearing anything other than his wedding ring, and, surely, it couldn't have been his spectacles.

With a sigh, she knocked on Alya's front door.

It was Alya's mother that answered, smiling in recognition and inviting Marinette inside. Even though her own parents slept early, she was always still surprised whenever she visited her friends home and saw how long the adults were up for.

Her stomach twisted uncomfortably.

With a call of her name, Alya appeared, clad in her pyjamas and her hair a mess as she opened her bedroom door. Surprise was clear across her expression before she broke into a wide smile.

The answering one Marinette gave was shaky.

Alya's mother's parting words were to be quiet, so Alya's younger sisters wouldn't be woken up, before she was ushered inside the bedroom. Alya was starting to say that it was a surprise that she'd been allowed to come over, especially on a Sunday when they had school the next morning, and Marinette was having trouble concentrating.

Tikki must've known what she was planning on doing, but there had been no words of reprimanding, none to dissuade her of what she was about to do.

She wetted her lips.

"When you said that I could be Ladybug," Marinette started, her gaze on her knees as she settled down on Alya's bed, resisting the urge to tuck her legs up against her chest. "Did you mean it?"

Alya made a noise of surprise. "I'm not going to feed your ego, Marinette."

"That's not it," she insisted, brushing her fringe away from her face. "I—I kind of need your help, that's all."

"It's, like, nine o'clock at night."

She snorted. "I'm sorry, is that too late to talk to you?"

"You could've given me some warning," Alya replied, coming to sit down beside her, the mattress sinking a bit from her weight. "Not that I'm complaining about your trust in me, but... I don't know, is this a good idea?"

It wasn't, not really. But even if Papillon managed to get to Alya again, she already had her suspicions.

"Maybe not," she settled with saying. "But you're probably the best person to talk to about this."

Alya rested one thigh on top of the other. "Is this a confession?"

"We both know you already _know_."

"It is, then," Alya breathed, leaning back on her palms, staring up at the ceiling. "I—why come forward now? I thought you were going to stick to the whole not giving honest answers things, you know."

She closed her eyes. "Because I'm not the only person with a miraculous that isn't honest."

When Alya got up hastily, Marinette almost jumped from the sudden movement. "Sorry," Alya said, a lopsided smile as she pushed hard on the wood until there was a click. "Better safe than sorry, right? I can't imagine what would happen if one of my sisters overheard us."

"It's okay." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "You're not... I just thought you'd freak out about this."

"Oh, I definitely did that." Alya waved a hand dismissively as she pulled out her desk chair, moving it so it was closer to the bed, facing her. "I think I might've hyperventilated a bit when we spoke about it before. It would've just been awkward if I broke down in front of you, right?"

Her eyes prickled. "Your feelings are important."

It was reminiscent to the words Alya had uttered to her, all those months ago in her bedroom, and from the way Alya's smile grew soft, she had to wonder whether she'd recalled them, too. "So, am I right in thinking you're here for advice, rather than a sort of friendship therapy?"

"Maybe." Laughter bubbled within her, escaping quietly. "I—I don't know what I'm doing any more."

"Sneaking out to fill me in on all your deeds," Alya supplied. "What can I do for you, Mari?"

The nickname brought a smile to her lips. Even though her friend wasn't sat beside her any more, her hazel-coloured eyes a bit wide as she looked at her, there was genuine affection and concern in them, something that she'd barely seen on Gabriel's face earlier that day.

Just thinking about that caused her heartbeat to increase.

"I know who Papillon is," she blurted, no tact at all.

Alya's reaction was to gape at her, no words escaping her parted lips.

"I—fuck," Marinette swore, rubbing a hand over her face in frustration. "I don't know—you're smart, while Chat and I are just..."

After trailing off, Marinette had closed her eyes again, trying to calm herself down. It wasn't how she'd planned to tell her, but then again, she'd never approved of involving Alya in the first place. Even when Adrien had shot down the idea earlier, even though she hadn't mentioned their friend's name, she still thought it would be best to get a third party to give their opinion on their situation.

When Alya spoke, her face shook a little. "You're smart, too."

"I sure don't feel like it right now," Marinette uttered, falling back against the mattress, the darkness of her eyelids not at all comforting. "If you... I mean, if you don't want to be involved in any of this, just tell me now."

"Marinette," Alya chastised immediately.

And then, Marinette sucked in a sharp breath, sitting upright and pulling the leg that Alya had kicked up to her chest, the throbbing appearing immediately. A bit bewildered, she stared at her friend, who only looked at her with raised eyebrows as she crossed her arms.

She rubbed the area over the top of her jeans. "I just want to protect you."

"You've done that for two years," Alya shot back, the no nonsense tone when that usually only appeared when they were doing classwork. "Now, you better explain what the fuck you just said."

Staring down at her knee, Marinette tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "We—we don't have any evidence to show to the police. Any accusations we make won't hold any weight because of who they are, and there's—"

"I'm not going to run off and punch them in the face," Alya interrupted. "You don't have to be all cryptic. Besides, you can just use your lasso and bring me back."

"It's not a _lasso_ —"

Alya snorted. "Yo-yo, then."

It was childish, but it made her laugh. Marinette shook her head fondly, and although she still felt panicky, worrying about the possible future, she appreciated her friend's presence.

"Papillon is—" Marinette started before pursing her lips, averting her gaze once more. "He's a father."

Alya, who had clearly been expecting her to reveal everything, made a noise of frustration. "What?"

"If we... I mean, if I'm able to prove his identity, his—his son won't have anyone left," she confessed, the words hanging heavily in the air. "I'd be making him an essentially an orphan—I think? I don't really know how any of that legal stuff works, but I'm pretty he has no family members left, nor anyone to take him in—"

The hand that landed on her shoulder made her jump.

"Calm down," Alya said softly, sitting down beside her on the mattress. "You're rambling, Mari. You only do that when you're really nervous."

Her eyes burned. "I'm nervous about everything."

"True," Alya agreed. "But what can I help you with? There has to be a reason that you're here."

"I—" Marinette interrupted herself, a choked sob escaping her. "I just need a friend."

As she was wrapped into a loose hug, one that wasn't awkward or smothering, Alya replied quietly, "I can definitely help you with that."

-x-

Adrien was just as optimistic as she was, which wasn't saying much. Once they'd agreed that they really couldn't just burst into his home, tie his father up and attempt to find his miraculous, they'd decided to swap the subject to whether anyone had come to try and collect him from Nino's home.

Even though not a single call had gone through to Nino's family to make sure their food was acceptable for Adrien, he wasn't questioned about the sudden leniency. Adrien confessed that he'd awkwardly replied that he was taking a break from work to focus on his school work, and that was believed, for the most part.

Nino was curious, especially why Adrien was glued to his phone most of the time, but it was explained away by the existence of Ui.

When school started the next day, Adrien certainly didn't look happy, despite being able to walk the distance for the first time. He looked miserable, and the dark marks underneath his eyes surely matched hers, but the tentative smile that tugged on his lips when he caught sight of her waiting outside the school entrance was enough to make her feel a bit warm.

They didn't exchange words, but Marinette offered him a quick hug before pulling away, trying not to appear as anything more than friendly.

It garnered some raised eyebrows from Alya, but she knew that Alya wouldn't ask any questions.

The classes were tense, and Marinette found herself yawning a bit, her attention wandering when she should've been paying attention to the teacher. Adrien was in much the same situation, and when they sat at the same table for lunch, they looked at each other after yawning before bursting into laughter, the loudest that it had been all day.

It wasn't perfect, but it was nice to see him smile like that, even if it was for a few moments.

They got through the whole day without Gabriel Agreste calling up the principal, arranging transport to get Adrien around the city, and not a single came through to Adrien's phone. Even though she'd finally signed into the messenger on her phone, he'd barely messaged her that day, meaning that there hadn't been enough to warrant looking at up until after they'd parted ways.

The night seemed too quiet.

Marinette had expected something, some kind of retaliation for them barging into his home, but Gabriel hadn't done _anything_. He hadn't attempted to get his son to go home, nor contact him in any way, and there hadn't been any attacks.

It just made her all the more worried.

Adrien was in much the same position, and he wasn't shy about admitting it when they were talking.

 **adrien [19:20]  
** _maybe there's some masterplan  
and we're just being dumb here_

 **gduiuightr [19:21]  
** _I don't really know?  
it feels weird just to wait_

 **adrien [19:21]  
** _i still vote for us just tying him up  
he has to be wearing it somewhere_

 **gduiuightr [19:22]  
** _do you see him wearing any accessories  
other than his wedding ring?_

 **adrien [19:24]  
** _no_

 **gduiuightr [19:25]  
** _exactly!  
it's not like he has fucking pierced ears or something_

 **adrien [19:25]  
** _to be fair  
a lot of people have pierced ears_

 **gduiuightr [19:26]  
** _it might be best to just  
wait and see what he does?_

 **adrien [19:26]  
** _we're literally the worst detectives?_

 **gduiuightr [19:28]  
** _because we're not detectives  
I don't even watch crime shows  
this isn't my speciality_

 **adrien [19:29]  
** _you're in luck  
neither do i _

**gduiuightr [19:30]  
** _that's very reassuring_

 **adrien [19:31]  
** _i try and make jokes when i'm nervous  
please laugh at them and appreciate me_

 **gduiuightr [19:31]  
** _I always appreciate you!_

 **adrien [19:32]  
** _more praise please  
oh  
gotta go  
nino's complaining about the light from my phone_

The days that followed were filled with her cautiously walking the street, checking to see whether she'd catch a glance of Adrien's father wherever she went. It was a nervous thing, she knew, and she very much doubted that she'd ever witness Papillon in person—but the fear was still there, along with the nagging guilt that she wasn't doing anything about it.

She was looking countless people in the eyes, ones that had been infected by an akuma, and keeping the information of who had caused all of it to herself. Still, even though she was aware that she was being far too paranoid, she was quiet throughout the week, mostly keeping to herself.

With Alya being in the know, it meant that she had some support from her. Alya didn't ask questions, not when she took in the bags underneath her eyes, and the way Marinette preferred to scribble on her paper instead of engaging in conversations in class, and she was grateful for that. So, instead of pestering her for answers, Alya just nudged her when she needed to pay attention, reminding her to function normally instead of spending all her time obsessing about her worries.

However, with Adrien, after the third day of staying at Nino's, Nino's parents became concerned. He'd tried to explain it away, saying that his father was fine with him staying there, but they wouldn't take that for an answer until actually confirming it for themselves.

So, when Gabriel answered their call and gave his blessing for his son to stay there, even offering money for him being there, it came as a surprise to everyone.

Adrien was just bewildered.

As he couldn't call her—not when Nino was in close proximity, and he didn't want to be caught—he expressed all of this to her through messenger, complete with his sentences being short, which meant that she'd signed in to a load of notifications.

She was just as confused from his father's actions.

It didn't make sense, but Adrien had said that he'd just escape by using his miraculous if he was forced home, and, apparently, that had been enough to make him agree to it.

There was an alternative answer, but she didn't want to dwell on it too much. Marinette couldn't see why Adrien's reveal of him being Chat Noir could've prompted Gabriel to feel guilty, not when he'd caused harm to Adrien as his normal identity. Looking at the situation as a whole, Gabriel causing all the terror, trying to get to her and Chat, shouldn't have been what had made him falter.

And yet, she'd seen his speechlessness with her own eyes.

Could he only justify his actions against Adrien when he knew that she'd be there to save him, to jump in as Ladybug and make sure that he was safe? But Chat—

Chat had suffered more than her, often falling victim to an akuma's powers while trying to protect her, and the whole city as a whole—but the thought that Gabriel had only just realised that it had really been his son all along was sickening. It wasn't any better that he hadn't known who he was; they were still human, living and breathing, and not deserving of his actions.

It just made her feel angry.

Adrien deserved so much better. He deserved to have his mother back, wherever she was, and for his father to not neglect him horribly over the months, eventually causing for him to eat dinners alone. The simple things, such as walking to school, shouldn't have been experienced for the first time after he'd threatened his father.

But it had, and that just made her feel worse.

There wasn't much that she could do. The pain he was feeling was surely much more than her own; her guilt must've been nothing compared to his—

Her trail of thought wasn't healthy.

-x-

She didn't send him a card that year.

Neither of them were in the romantic mood, especially not with everything going on, so it was a relief when Adrien just smiled and said Ui couldn't come visit him for a while. There weren't many other questions directed at him, thankfully, but Marinette did receive some when she didn't bring in any of the leftover chocolates, as she usually did every year.

"Sorry," she said whenever she was asked. "I forgot them."

And as the week dragged on, while she tried to make herself more enthusiastic, to try and appear happier than she really was, it became clear that their idea to try and keep Adrien separate from his father wasn't working out the best.

Despite Nino's parents being happy for Adrien to stay at theirs, Adrien confessed that he felt like a burden, especially since they hadn't accepted any money from his father. So, after a week had passed of him staying there, the following day Adrien jumped onto her balcony as Chat Noir to stay with her there.

It wasn't a perfect situation.

"It's okay," Marinette tried to reassure him, her smile not quite meeting her eyes. "My parents go to bed really early, and they won't wake up if you shower or anything. It's basically free reign after eight o'clock."

He looked at her dubiously. "Won't they come into your room?"

"You've stayed here for the night before," she pointed out, although the memory of that wasn't pleasant. "They don't really like coming up my stairs. I understand, though. I often trip up them."

It was a bit like she was keeping a pet a secret in her room. She'd fantasied about doing that when she was younger, when she was told they couldn't have a pet that could wander down into the shop, but her imagination had never been as difficult as it really was.

After the first night, where he slept on her sofa again with the countless blankets that he'd claimed as his own, she felt guilty when she wandered downstairs to have breakfast with one of her parents in the morning. She hadn't thought through how they'd get all the food for him; she couldn't cook in the night, not when the smell would waft through their house, and she didn't want to take too much while her parents were asleep, as she was sure that it would be noticed.

Adrien had pointed out that he could just go buy food himself, using the card in his wallet that continued to work, but she still felt bad about that. Although he tried to assure her that it was fine—that he'd bought them dinner at the weekend when they met on different rooftops, of which they hadn't done while he was at Nino's—she reluctantly gave in and let him buy food on their way to school, and when they were walking back.

It was awkward, but they managed it for four days.

A blond hair gave them away.

With Adrien sat beside her at the table, Marinette kept her eyes averted from her parents' gaze. It wasn't the extra toothbrush that Adrien had almost forgotten to take back upstairs one time that had given them away, nor the way Marinette spent all the time in her room, not staying downstairs to watch television with her parents that week, but the fact that neither of them had thought to check the drain of the shower.

She was embarrassed.

Adrien, on the other hand, was pale, sitting up far too straight and looking stiff.

Marinette wasn't a good liar, so it became apparent pretty quickly that Adrien was having trouble at home (to which they didn't elaborate much on), and he didn't feel comfortable returning. He openly admitted that he'd stayed with Nino for a while before he felt like he was intruding, and then promptly apologised for hiding away in their home for so long.

As much sympathy as he earned, they both knew that he wouldn't be allowed to stay there. Marinette's home didn't have an extra bedroom, and she definitely couldn't see her parents allowing him to stay in her bedroom with her, not after they'd looked so disappointed at the bundle of blankets on the sofa.

It was clear that she wouldn't be trusted so easily in the future.

Her parents took him seriously, though. When they asked Adrien whether someone in his home was hurting him, he clammed up a little before lamely replying that he just missed his mother, and that he didn't want to be in the home without her.

They didn't ask him any further questions of abuse, thankfully, but the worst part came when her mother came back from being on the phone, tentatively saying that someone was coming to pick him up, and that it would be a good idea to collect his belongings.

Her stomach twisted uncomfortably.

She suspected Adrien was in much the same position, but he nodded, walking slowly up her stairs and doing as he was told while Marinette stayed seated at the table.

She was asked whether she'd seen any bruises on him, any hints for another reason that he'd attempt to run away, and she could only shake her head. Gabriel hadn't left any bruises on him—any damage that had been done had been repaired when she cleaned each akuma.

Gabriel's assistant was the one to come to their front door.

Hovering in the back, Marinette returned the sad smile that Adrien sent his way, hoping that his trip wouldn't be too bad. It was just lucky that Gabriel hadn't been the one to come—that would've been too much for either of them to bare.

Her messages weren't replied to for a couple of hours, and her worries were starting to appear, but she doubted that his father would actually harm him when neither of them were transformed. While she didn't know his trail of thought—or why he'd even agreed for Adrien to stay at Nino's for a while—she only had her theories to count on.

Later that evening, Adrien returned to her bedroom in the form of Chat Noir. He was quiet as he knocked on the window to get her attention, and she quickly embraced him when he was safely in her room.

"Good to see you, too," he greeted, returning the hug with enthusiasm. "As much as I'd like to continue, I couldn't grab Plagg any food before, so he's gonna be grumpy whenever he's free."

With a smile, Marinette admitted, "I already put some food on my desk for the chance that you came back."

"Sorry," Adrien glumly said. "I... I probably put you in a really shitty place with your parents, but that was never my intention."

"It's okay," she insisted. "I'm just grounded for a bit, but it's not like they know that I sneak out regularly."

When his transformation dropped, Plagg immediately darted towards the desk, Tikki trailing after him, their conversation too quiet to hear.

His hair was wet.

A bit bewildered, as it had been dry when he was Chat, Marinette reached out to touch it. "You stayed long enough to have a shower, then."

"Yeah," he confirmed, shaking his head a little to make the hair settle in a more comfortable way. "I just ran up to my room. He wasn't even there to greet me, so I don't know what the plan was there."

She pursed her lips. "He—you didn't talk to him?"

"I didn't even see him." It wasn't missed that they were both avoiding his name, or mentioning his relation to Adrien in their speech. "I can just climb back inside my window when I go back there to sleep."

It was a confirmation as any that he wouldn't be staying on her sofa for the foreseeable future. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

Running a hand through his hair,looking frazzled as he did so, Adrien murmured, "I kind of have to be."

It was quiet, as though he hadn't wanted her to hear. Marinette frowned, not knowing what to do to comfort him at all. Their feelings on the situation were completely different, and she wasn't quite sure on how well he was dealing with it.

"Adrien," she called softly, reaching out and taking his hand into hers. The skin was a bit wet from where he'd been touching his head. "You can always call me, okay?"

The smile didn't reach his eyes. "Can't have you rushing over to mine as Ladybug, can we?"

"No," she quietly replied. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to talk to you—even if it's about something dumb. I know we—we haven't really spoken about it, but I am your girlfriend. I do care for you."

The expression Adrien looked at her with was soft. "But to everyone else, you're not."

There was no denying that.

After that, they just sat on the sofa together, not filling in the silence with talking. Their kwamis came over after some time, trying to add enthusiasm and happiness into the atmosphere, but it didn't work too well. When it became clear that Plagg's jokes were falling flat—to which he seemed dramatically offended about—Marinette offered the leftover food on the plate to Adrien, trying to earn a smile from him.

Tikki was the one to bring up the topic of Papillon.

Adrien stiffened beside her, clamming and shutting them out immediately. It wasn't a surprise, but it was still hard to see the way he averted his eyes, not speaking up to give his opinions (while Plagg was more than vocal about what he wanted to do—the law be damned).

"I don't—" Adrien cut himself off, swallowing audibly. "I can't talk about it."

It made her mood dampen even further. "Adrien," she started, not quite knowing what to say.

"No," he insisted, shaking his head as he closed his eyes. "I just—let's forget about that while I'm here, okay?"

They did just that.

-x-

Her parents did ask how Adrien was after he left her home, and she hoped her answers were convincing enough. Although he didn't come over every day after school, not as it had been when he was staying with her, he did contact her consistently, filling her in on everything that happened at his home.

It was because of that that she knew that Adrien hadn't seen his father since he returned home.

Adrien had thought it was just a coincidence at first, since he'd taken to taking his plate at meal times and taking up to his room to be alone, but when he paid attention and started to notice that only one plate was prepared, he'd asked someone where his father was.

He was told that Gabriel was taking his meals at different times.

What made her the most anxious was that there hadn't been any attacks. It would've been dumb on Gabriel's part to continue as he done so before, but she couldn't see him just stopping because they knew who he was—surely, that wasn't that much of a concern when they had no evidence unless they were able to actually capture him, somehow.

She'd theorised a few ways, but none of them were realistic.

When he wasn't tucked away in his bedroom, Adrien was looking around his home, trying to find a way to access the windows that they'd seen. The only way Marinette had finally agreed to him doing so was for him to be on the phone with her at the same time, and she was surprised when he didn't protest to that.

It wasn't like Gabriel would do anything to him—at least, she hoped not. The way that he'd stayed away from his son for weeks had seemed almost like an answer to that, but she'd never know that for sure, not really.

Adrien's search involved him touching all sorts of objects, trying out the remote controls that he found before running outside to see whether they'd worked for the window. It was a tiring ordeal, especially since he kept having to go down the large staircase when he needed to check, and she couldn't do anything to help since she was grounded.

"I feel like I'm going mad," Adrien exclaimed with a sigh when he'd just pushed aside a cabinet to check behind it. "Seriously, there's not going to be some fucking secret entrance somewhere—"

The rants from him came through often, especially when he had to move furniture, but it was the most animated that he'd been for days. The curses that left his lips and the way he was talking quickly was nice to hear, even if it was just him hating the existence of his home.

Sadly, his bedroom couldn't be excluded, which involved him pulling out each of the books in his room out.

He had more than one bookcase.

"This is bullshit," he grumbled, and she could hear the sound of him tossing a book aside. "What am I even fucking looking for? A button?"

"I don't know," Marinette replied, trying hard not to laugh at how petulant he sounded. "Anything that seems out of place, I guess."

Even his laugh sounded sarcastic. "That really clears things up, thank you."

"Don't forget to press certain points on walls. I've seen that in films before."

There was a pause. "You're not being serious, are you?" Adrien enquired, emotion drained from his voice.

The laughter left her before she could stop herself. "I—" Marinette wheezed out, reaching up to rub at one of her eyes where moisture had built from her amusement. "It's worth a try? Isn't there a thing where you can knock on the wall to find out if it's hollow?"

"I thought you didn't watch crime shows!"

She pointed out, "That doesn't mean I haven't seen weird stuff in films. I tend to just stay away from murder shows since I find them weird to watch."

"Are you seriously suggesting for me to feel every single wall?"

"No." Her lips twitched. "Knock on them."

Adrien didn't waste any time in replying, "Fuck you."

"You're so sweet," Marinette sang, the words coming out naturally, as though they weren't really trying to find out whether his home had a secret room in it somewhere. "You know all the things to make me smile."

A snort came from the other end of the line. "Me swearing at you makes you smile?"

Him being comfortable with her did, but she settled with saying, "Sure, let's go with that."

"I'm not touching all my walls," Adrien bluntly replied, changing the subject. "I've already moved basically everywhere—I even moved the _fridge_ , and I doubt it's been moved in, like, months. There was dust."

"Not _dust_."

Adrien grumbled, "I don't appreciate your tone."

"Thank you for your hardwork and sacrifices," Marinette answered pleasantly, wondering whether her smile was clear in her voice. "Let's narrow it down, then. Where does your—I mean, where does he go?"

It was still a little rule that Adrien didn't want to call his father anything but his pronouns. It made it a bit awkward at times, especially when Marinette wasn't paying attention, and therefore had to think about who he was at first, but she caught onto it quickly.

"I've already gone into his bedroom," Adrien pointed out, sighing. "I guess the next best option is his office. I haven't actually gone in there since... since, you know."

She definitely did know. Of all the times Marinette had thought about confronting Papillon, it had never been in Gabriel Agreste's office. She could still remember how hollow Adrien's voice had been when he'd confronted his father after the transformation had dropped, and thinking about how he felt just made her tear up.

She couldn't imagine what it would be like if Papillon turned out to be one of her parents, but then again, she couldn't imagine living without one of them either. Adrien had drawn the short end of the stick for his life, clearly.

Thinking that made her feel a little sick.

"Yeah," she agreed thickly. "But it might be our best bet."

The laugh that came from him was only half-hearted. "I don't see you doing much helping, Marinette."

"Well, wait until after my parents are asleep and I'll climb through your window to help you search," she offered, only joking a little bit.

"Honestly," Adrien started, pausing a little before he cleared his throat. "I'm worrying for stupid reasons, but the fact that I'm searching for some sort of a secret entrance is giving me serious anxiety. This can't possibly be my life."

She made a noise of understanding. "I thought that the first time I saw Tikki."

"Really?" He perked up a little, the way he was speaking becoming faster. "I was mostly excited, I think. Plagg likes to exaggerate the story a little when he reminisces about how fast I used to get him food."

Sitting down at her desk, spinning in her chair absent-mindedly, Marinette wondered whether convincing one of their kwamis to stalk Gabriel would be a good idea. As well as they'd been able to hide their own for two years, Gabriel's had never been seen—though, that wasn't hard considering he'd hardly seen his own son in the past few months.

Still, it wasn't really a wise option, not even when she realised that if either Plagg or Tikki were caught, they could just phase through whatever was holding onto them and disappear. The fact was, even if they found the entrance—or button, whatever it turned out to be—a window still wouldn't prove anything to police. The akuma theory of entering buildings wasn't knowledge to anyone, and from the lack of attacks, they couldn't prove it without requesting the police to comb through countless videos to try and prove that they were right.

It just sounded like a lot of work for their only proof being a butterfly flying through a window that was closed most of the time.

Although Adrien was still quiet at school, he was communicating a lot more with her when they were both at home. They'd agreed not to meet up on the weekend transformed, as they used to, as they were already able to talk to each other freely.

But with the days passing, Adrien's father continued to ignore him, and there was no sign of attacks happening anywhere in the city. It was the longest period of time since in a over a year, something that was pointed out online, and there was a flood of articles stating that neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir had been spotted for just as long.

Which was silly, of course. Adrien had been more active than ever a few weeks prior, but no one had really paid attention to him. It helped that he moved quickly and that his outfit was black, apparently.

Adrien was beginning to give up on searching his home. He was already frustrated with his lack of finding anything, and he complained that his legs ached from running outside to check all the time.

It was after two weeks of living back at home that Adrien finally bumped into his father.

"He just—" Adrien spluttered, sounding entirely overwhelmed as soon as she'd answered the phone (she'd set a specific ringtone for him, so she'd madly dash to get it across the room). "He looked at me and _left_."

She swallowed. "You saw him, then?"

"If you want to call it that, yeah." He sounded bitter, but she didn't blame him. "He couldn't even meet my fucking eyes, Marinette."

It wasn't an explosive meeting, but it had caused an audible change to his voice. Adrien wasn't calm; he was talking quickly, skipping over his pronunciation at times to get the words out as fast as he count, all of which was combined with his negative tone.

There wasn't a guide to trying to comfort him with this. There wasn't some book that she could read online, or articles to try and coach her on how to talk to him. All the things she'd found had dealt with child abuse, and they'd all suggested getting into contact with social services, or approaching an adult in their life, if it was worrying enough.

With her parents concerns for Adrien, Marinette had to wonder whether they still thought that he was being neglected somehow. Well, it wouldn't have been a lie; Gabriel had always been kind of shitty, but it had been upped to the extreme the past month after they'd found the extra information.

It just meant that Adrien didn't have a good parental figure left in his life, not unless he counted his driver that had gone back to taking him to and from school every morning again.

"I—I hate him," Adrien confessed, sounding so thoroughly fed up.

And what could she say to that?

"I wish he was gone instead," he admitted in a whisper, and she heard the suspicious sound of him sniffing. "If it was him instead, things would be— _everything_ would be so much better."

She blinked rapidly.

Lamely, Marinette replied, "I'm sorry."

The laugh that left him wasn't an honest one. It was forced, sounding more sad than anything. "This is all so fucked up."

"Yes." There was no denying that. "But we..."

"We're children," Adrien said with a sigh. "We're supposed to protect everyone and we're not even legal."

Before she could reply, there was muffled sound on the other end of the phone, a yelp of some sort, and she tensed, expecting the worst the happen.

"Adrien?" Marinette called, trying to get his attention. She only relaxed when she started to hear Adrien's laughter—which was brighter than it had been before, not forced—and continued to call his name out.

"Sorry," he offered, and it sounded so different to when Marinette had uttered that word minutes ago. "Plagg pulled my hair and told me to stop being so dramatic."

The image was a silly one, but it was what she needed to cheer up. As her laughter came out, it only increased as Adrien grumbled underneath his breath, his words clearly intended for his kwami, and that made her laugh even more.

Taking in a breath once she'd calmed down, Marinette admitted, "I'm glad you have him."

Adrien muttered, "You're just glad that he's here to hit me."

"Only if you really deserve it," she quipped,. "Besides, isn't it like a little tap?"

With a sigh, Adrien replied, "Please don't bring his strength into question."

"Okay, my bad." She laughed. "Still, he's pretty cool. I'm happy that I finally got to meet him after so long."

There was rustling on the other end, a clear sign that he was moving, but his reply came through immediately, "You're saying that because he eats anything you give me—you haven't experienced the horror of trying to store away stinky cheese for him."

"He sounds like a wonderful brat."

Adrien sounded aghast as he retorted, "Marinette, _no_."

"Yes!" she insisted, glad that the mood had lightened from Plagg's interference. She'd never considered how different he would be to Tikki, but she could still appreciate his distinctive personality (especially after hearing Adrien's tales about him). "I can't not appreciate him when he's got those little ears."

He muttered, "I have those ears, too."

"Yeah, that you steal from him, basically," she pointed out, not holding back her laugh. "And they're not as small. All the charm of Chat Noir is from him."

Not trying to refute her comment, Adrien instead stated, "His ego's going to go through the roof."

"What, like yours?" Marinette replied innocently, her voice going a little bit more high-pitched than normal. "You two just belong together."

"I want my other girlfriend back."

Marinette laughed loudly. "The Japanese one?"

Sniffing dramatically, he answered, "At least she was nice to me."

"Yeah, because you couldn't detect sarcasm in my typing."

He gasped. "My _heart_."

-x-

With the absence of Papillon, Marinette was practically ambushed when she was walking home. Alya grabbed her wrist with a determined expression, pulling her in the direction of her home, and Marinette humoured her, allowing herself to be tugged along.

"I'm grounded, you know," Marinette pointed out when she was safely into Alya's bedroom. "Unless you home in thirty minutes, it'll be extended another week."

Alya made a noise of disapproval. "You can just jump across the city and make it back in no time, don't give me that excuse."

There was the casual admittance that Alya really did know, and it still surprised her that her friend hadn't badgered her for more of anything—not even an interview for the _Ladyblog_. Then again, she had asked for one when everything was done, back when Marinette was refusing to confirm anything before.

"It's not really an excuse," she replied. "I'm just telling you, so you know why I might panic and run away soon."

Much like before, Alya sat on her desk chair while Marinette was on the bed. Marinette watched as her friend turned the chair towards her, crossing her arms and pursing her lips as they seemed to stare at each other for a little bit.

To break the silence, Marinette asked, "Is there something on your mind?"

"You're damn right there is," Alya confirmed, her voice wobbling a bit as she turned her head to check that the door was closed properly. "So it's been... over a month since the last attack."

There was no denying that. Alya's website kept a calender with the date of the attacks, and it was officially the longest since Papillon's appearance. "Yes," she agreed, her hands clenching around the duvet below her to give herself something to do, a nervous habit that she was able to recognise about herself.

"Last time I checked, you said you couldn't do anything." The suspicion was clear in her voice. "You didn't, like, bury him in a ditch or something, did you?"

A startled laugh escaped her. "Do I even look strong enough to do that?"

"You can literally throw cars through the air," Alya deadpanned. "Also, don't think I haven't noticed that you have visible fucking muscles normally. You're just hiding them with your clothing choices."

Choosing to address only to the last comment, Marinette lamely replied, "I just like being comfortable."

"Right." Alya uncrossed her arms, visibly fidgeting in her seat. "So..."

It was clear that she just wanted to know what had happened. "We haven't been able to do anything," she admitted as she stared down at her lap, not quite wanting to see her friend's reaction. "I know that—that I should've, but... I don't know how to avoid making a big scene."

"A big scene?" Alya repeated, spluttering. "All the shit he's done is a _scene_. Who cares if you publicly drag his name? The fucker shouldn't have a life after everything that's happened."

Alya was breathing heavily at the end of that rant—which Marinette was able to hear from the bed—and when she looked up, she could see how close her friend was to crying as her chest heaved.

"Alya," Marinette said, her voice cracking at the end. "What good is accusations without proof? Even if I said to anyone that I'm Ladybug, no one would believe me without actually seeing it."

"So tie him—"

She interrupted gently, "For him to try and use it against us? Remember how quickly everyone turned against Chat when they thought he was a thief? That could definitely happen again, and it would work in Papillon's favour."

The silence came back then, and Alya rubbed a hand harshly against her face as she pushed her hair away, leaving little red marks where she'd touched. Marinette didn't blame her reaction, but she had to wonder whether Adrien had someone that he could talk to—but it wasn't her place to reveal his identity, not when the only one, other than her, that he'd revealed it to had turned out to be their enemy.

It made her swallow thickly.

"I'm sorry," she offered, but it didn't seem like it was enough. "I know that—that I can't promise you anything, but even if Papillon goes into hiding, I can tell you that he won't have a perfect life."

The laugh that left Alya wasn't sincere. "That's real comforting, yeah."

The sarcasm wasn't missed, but Marinette chose to ignore it. "Something has to happen," Marinette said in frustration, reaching up and fiddling with her earrings roughly. "Even if it takes a while, it's just a matter of time."

"Sure, let's wait for karma to catch up," Alya replied, sounding thoroughly fed up. "I'm sure he deserves it."

"Alya—"

Alya interrupted her with, "You should probably get back before you're grounded for eternity, you know. There's enough time to go back the normal way."

She blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Sure that you'll make it?" Alya's smile was lopsided. "Maybe if you run."

Although she didn't really want to go, and instead wanted to stay and make sure that her friend was okay, she couldn't deny that she didn't want the grounding to go on any longer. With a hug, one that was tighter than usual, a lot more feelings put into it than when they saw each other at school, Alya walked her to the front door.

"If you ever want to tell me who it is," Alya started as her parting message. "I'll happily slash their tires any day."

Marinette was still smiling on her way home.

Although Alya didn't mention it again after that, she did raise her knife up during knife and pointedly look at it, causing Marinette to burst into loud laughter that neither of them wanted to explain.

The days continued to pass in much the same; some of the public had been lulled into a sense of security, theorising that Papillon had been defeated due to the lack of sightings of akuma, or Ladybug and Chat Noir, while some news had taken to saying that it Papillon waiting to strike while everyone was caught unaware; which was silly, really, because no one had ever figured out a pattern to predict them beforehand.

Adrien continued to have his meals separately, not seeing his father after the day that he'd turned and walked away abruptly. He told her that he mostly saw his father's assistant and his driver, a few members of staff as they walked through the walls, but that was it. There weren't any large meetings held in his home, nor anyone invited over for dinner (which sometimes happened when business was involved), which meant that the hallways of his home seemed to echo from the emptiness.

When he saw his father again, it wasn't face-to-face.

Marinette hadn't made it home before she received a string of messages from Adrien, the incoming texts so fast that her alert only finished playing for the last one. The contents had a lot of misspellings, the words all over the place, but the message was clear.

Neglecting that she was still grounded—which meant she had a set amount of time to make it home before, unless her parents knew that she had detention—Marinette turned on her heel and started her way to Adrien's home. He hadn't said to come as Ladybug, so she wasn't going to panic.

Maybe, he could've just gotten into a fight with his father. It would be understandable for him to be upset after; he'd barely been able to talk about him for weeks, trying his best to distance himself away from his last family member, especially if Gabriel was brought up in conversation at school.

Luckily, no one had noticed his flinches at that.

Still, Marinette could remember the way he'd vomited when they'd found out the truth, and how he'd cried until his eyes were sore. None of what he'd experienced was something to just brush aside, not even when they weren't able to do anything about it. Him keeping his distance was their best solution for the time being.

Her heart was pounding as she pressed the button at the large gate, requesting to be let in.

The reply was immediate, and when she walked inside slowly, the front door was open with Adrien standing on the porch without his shoes on, and the jacket he'd been wearing to school had also been discarded.

"Adrien?" she called, furrowing her brow in confusion. "What's up?"

One hand was clenched by his side, and as she got closer, she was able to see that Plagg was perched on his shoulder, gazing at him with an indescribable expression.

It just made her dread whatever he had to say. "Adrien?" she tried again as she came to stand in front of him, hovering awkwardly on the porch as she looked behind him to see whether anyone else was present.

"This—" Adrien cut himself off, but the crack in his voice had been evident. After clearing his throat, he raised his clenched hand and quietly continued, "This was on my—my bed when I got back."

With his palm facing upwards, he slowly uncurled his hand, revealing what appeared to be a bead of some sort with four wings coming out of it.

"What?" she questioned, not quite understanding the meaning of it immediately. It was only when she felt her bag rustling before Tikki phased out of it—a ability she didn't use often, but it made red-coloured particles appear in the air around her before they faded out of existence—and a gasp escaped her that she suddenly felt her heartbeat panic.

The sight of it made her pale.

"There's more," Adrien admitted as he held onto it once more, jerking his head to the side to usher her inside. "It's in my room."

Marinette followed after him, but when she'd paused to take her shoes off—a requirement that she'd been told all about by him—Adrien made a noise of frustration before telling her that it wasn't needed, and that they needed to be fast.

She didn't feel too bad from the dirty marks she left on the floor.

Adrien's room was as intimidatingly large as ever, and it was his bed that he took her over to. Marinette perched on the edge as he opened the laptop that he'd left aside, but she mostly paid attention to the miraculous that was between them.

"Where's the kwami?" Marinette questioned softly, reaching out to press her fingertips against the middle of the miraculous.

It felt cold.

The answered she received was that they were inside of it, since neither her or Adrien could wield the miraculous while they were in possession of their own ones—to which Tikki pointed out again that only she and Plagg were a set, and able to be used by the same person, if necessary.

It turned out that along with the miraculous, a video file had been left to Adrien, too. The device was plugged into his laptop, and the first thing that they saw when it loaded was Papillon staring at them, which was startling enough that Adrien immediately paused it.

Seeing the differences between Papillon and Gabriel were alarming. Unlike their masks, his covered everything but his eyes, mouth, and a portion of his chin. The outfit was bound to be as odd-looking as the rest, but he was sitting down, the top of his shoulders and up only visible on the camera.

There was no denying that it was filmed in Gabriel Agreste's office.

The whole video was addressed to Adrien—not Chat Noir, Ladybug, or anyone else. It was intended for the eyes of his son only, and it was explained within the first few sentences that it wasn't the only video.

Her stomach clenched uncomfortably, the sign that she was too anxious for what was going on, as Adrien continued to tense beside her, his stiff posture telling of his emotions.

She barely registered Tikki coming to rest on her hand, trying to provide some comfort.

It didn't end in a violent battle or even a confrontation. There was no screaming match, no raised voices since that day in the office, and Marinette hadn't seen Gabriel in person since he'd been standing behind his desk. And yet, seeing him in the video caused her to feel uncomfortable, while she couldn't even imagine how Adrien felt about him.

When the transformation was dropped in the video, the Gabriel that was shown wasn't the usually pristine and put together one that she always saw. His light hair was pushed back, but some strands were falling onto his forehead, and there was no jacket on.

The kwami they saw for a moment was purple-coloured and barely on the screen before they ran away, out of shot without saying anything. There was no acknowledgement from Gabriel that they were there at all; instead, he reached up to touch the neckerchief that he always had on, taking it off slowly to reveal a little bead that stood out on his white-coloured shirt.

Marinette felt stupid for never suspecting it was hidden underneath that. From the intake of breath she heard from beside her, Adrien hadn't expected it either.

It was promptly taken off and put onto the desk in front of him as he stood up.

With his face out of the shot, Gabriel was apologising, all of his words directed at Adrien, but—

Apologies wouldn't do _anything_. Marinette knew that, and with a peek to the side to see Adrien's quivering lip as he stared at the screen, she had to assume that he was thinking the same thing.

He was trying to say that he hadn't wanted Adrien to get hurt, that he wasn't supposed to be in the way when Ladybug wasn't able to save him—which told her that he truly hadn't minded Adrien being involved when he was assumed to be a civilian—and his voice was shaking, much in the way Adrien's did when he was trying hard not to cry so he could get his words out.

She didn't want to try and compare Adrien's reactions to that of Papillon's, but—but Gabriel was there on the screen, turning the laptop to the side to point it towards a large portrait of Adrien's mother that was displayed in his office.

It wasn't her that laughed when their ridiculous suspicions were confirmed.

Adrien's laughter sounded wet and he buried his face in his hands when the portrait moved to reveal a hidden entrance behind. It had been prefaced with Gabriel apologising to him once more, and after it was shown where to specifically touch it to make something happen, Gabriel continued on to say that when the construction had been done, he'd paid for it to be off of any records.

It was just—it was something out of _fiction_ , not real life.

Marinette blinked rapidly, reaching up to wipe at her eyes quickly, trying to get rid of the tears so she could see clearly. Although Gabriel wasn't taking them up to the window—the one that he'd always favoured—they had the knowledge to do so themselves, and he smartly confessed that the other video he'd recorded hadn't included that titbit.

It was something that only Adrien should've known. Although none of his words were intended for her, Adrien's first reaction had been to call her to come with him.

She reached over to pry his hands away from his face, trying to offer him a shaky smile, as there was only silence on the video at that moment. Gabriel was walking back to his desk again, the pause one that felt far too stifling.

Adrien didn't return it, but he did clasp her hand gently with one of his, intertwining their fingers as he turned his attention back to the screen.

"I know my words can not make up for what I've done, especially to you, Adrien," Gabriel was saying, his voice quiet, and he was blinking quickly much like Marinette had been doing a minute or so earlier. "But, hopefully, my actions can try and mend some of it."

It was clear that he was referring to giving up his miraculous. But, surely, he didn't need to a video to just expression that—even if he could barely face his son in the passing weeks, it seemed strange to break the news as he was doing so.

It had been reckless, too. What if someone else had walked into Adrien's room?

Of all the things she expected, she hadn't thought that Gabriel Agreste would give himself into the police. There was no dramatic battle involving their powers, or any damage to the city. Instead, it was Gabriel giving himself in and using a video of himself dropping the transformation as proof, all of which he explained slowly, slumping back in his chair and looking wearier than she'd ever seen.

It wasn't the confident man that she'd stood in front of in his office.

"I'm sorry, Adrien," Gabriel confessed, a hand raising up to brush some of the pale strands away from his face. "I... I wanted your miraculous, along with Ladybug's, to do the impossible. But that—what I was hoping for—it's not worth hurting you."

A frustrated noise came from Adrien beside her, and she didn't blame him. His goal was being explained, not any further than saying that he wanted the impossible, but the fact that he was saying that at all was more than they'd ever been given.

It made her grip his hand tighter.

"I know you'd never give your miraculous to me." The smile that appeared on Gabriel's lips wasn't positive. "You've made that very clear, son."

Hurting Adrien had never been the problem before. For over a year, she'd heard all from Adrien how his father was growing distant—from the fights between them to the lonely meals, he'd eventually told her all of it, and yet she'd never thought that Gabriel would put his son first when it had never appeared that way before.

Her mouth was growing cry, a tell-tale sign that she was close to being sick, but she swallowed quickly to try and squash the feeling.

"You were right to give me parental advice," Gabriel continued, that sardonic-looking smile still present. "I wasn't acting as your father—I haven't for a long time, and I'm sorry for that."

When Adrien started crying, Plagg had already bought over tissues to him. The action had caused a shaky thank you to leave him, and his kwami was just as awkward to express his emotions clearly as Adrien was.

Marinette readily accepted the tissues that were offered to her, quickly dabbing at her eyes.

The video ended with Gabriel saying that he was planning to arrive at the police the hour that Adrien was due to be home. It meant that Adrien would have time to see the video, to collect himself together before anyone came to the door, but it opened up a lot more questions.

The final words were Gabriel saying, "I do love you, Adrien, even if I don't show it often."

As the video ended, turning the screen black, Marinette was almost startled by the sound of Adrien blowing his nose beside her. She wasn't in much better condition than him, and she was sure that her phone was buzzing with messages from her parents, but she'd left the bag downstairs when she'd intended to take her shoes off.

"What—" Adrien cleared his throat, trying to sound less nasally. "What am I supposed to do now?"

She swallowed, not able to do anything but answer honestly, "I don't know."

"He's going to be arrested." Adrien sounded frantic, the words coming out fast as his hand tightening around hers. "I—I won't have _anyone_."

There was no denying that. He was underaged, and from what she knew, social services would have be involved since he didn't have any family members left. "Adrien," she called, trying to get his attention.

But he just shook his head, raising a hand to run through his hair, gripping the roots a bit too tightly before it fell down to his side. "Marinette, I—" Adrien started to say, but he cut himself off with what sounded like a sob as he scrunched his eyes shut.

She didn't protest when he rested his forehead on her shoulder, hiding his expression with his position. Marinette responded by wrapping her arms loosely around him, trying to be a comfort without overwhelming him too much.

"Everyone's going to know." His words were slightly muffled. "They're—they're gonna look at me and see—"

She interrupted softly, "And see that you didn't know?"

"Yeah, sure." His exhale of breath was audible. "There's sure a lot of sympathy for children of murderers."

The sarcasm wasn't missed. "Except he's not a murderer," Marinette pointed out, not jumping when Adrien tensed within her arms. "He—he's the worst, okay? But he kind of did the right thing in the end."

"He really didn't."

"He's giving himself up for you." She wasn't sure which tense to use. "Even if you hate him—along with everyone else when the news gets out—he did finally do something smart rather than avoiding you forever."

Adrien sucked in a shaky breath. "Can we—can we not talk about this?"

"Sure," she agreed, her voice just as wobbly as his. "What do you think the chances are of me convincing my parents to adopt you?"

"Slim, probably," Adrien replied, sounding relieved. "You don't even have a spare bedroom."

She couldn't help but laugh at that. "My room's big, though. Maybe I can convince them to build a wall between it. That would count as two bedrooms, right?"

"I'm sure you can find someone to actually agree to building that," he answered, slowly wrapping his arms around her waist, making their position more comfortable. "It's a lot better than a secret lair."

For someone that didn't want to talk about, he was the one to bring the topic up. Instead of focusing on it, Marinette asked, "Do you know what you can do now?"

"What?"

She poked his side as she said, "Break up with Ui and let me be your rebound."

A groan came from him. "That's a lot of work. Can't we just say that you're Ui?"

"No one's going to believe why we lied unless we actually tell the truth," she mused. "And I don't really like the thought of anyone knowing I'm Ladybug. Best to keep it a secret still, right?"

"I guess," he agreed with a sigh. "Can I break up with you, at least?"

She smiled. "Sure. You could say Ui's moved back to Japan and you don't want to do that much of a long-distance relationship."

"Oh, that kind of makes me sound like a scumbag," Adrien remarked.

"Well, you did break a girl's heart."

"She's not _real_ ," he spluttered, lifting his head up to actually look her in the eyes, the smile on his lips the first one that she'd seen in hours.

Marinette returned the grin with a small one of her own. "She's as real as Nami, thank you."

"Exactly." Adrien scoffed, the redness of his eyes not taking anything away from his softly he was looking at her. "Marinette?"

Straightening up so she was no longer holding onto him, she replied, "Yes?"

"Will you—" Adrien cut himself off, a hand reaching up to touch the back of his neck self-consciously. "Will you stay with me until someone comes?"

There hadn't been any thought in her mind to leave. "Okay," she agreed. "It's not like if I leave now, I won't be grounded for eternity or anything. That ship sailed about an hour ago."

"Sorry." He didn't sound sorry at all. "I just—thank you. For being here, I mean."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," Marinette admitted, shyly tucking some hair behind her ear.

Adrien's lips quivered as he smiled. "You're a really good friend."

She couldn't resist asking, "Did you just friendzone me?"

The laughter that came from him was wonderful to hear.


End file.
